THIS VOLUME BELONGS TO THE SCHOOL 
COMMITTEE OF THE TOWN OF 



THE SCHOOL 

AND 

THE SCHOOLMASTER. 

A MANUAL 

FOR THE USE OF 

TEACHERS, EMPLOYERS, TRUSTEES, INSPECTORS, &C., &C., 
OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 

IN TWO PARTS.* 



PART I. 
BY ALONZO POTTER, D.D.^ 



OF NEW-YORK. 



PART II. 
BY GEORGE B. EMERSON, A. M. 



OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY WM. B. FOWLE & N. CAPEN, 

NO. 184 WASHINGTON ST. 

184 3. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. 



ADVERTISEMENT 

TO THE 

MASSACHUSETTS EDITION 



The subscriber has been authorized and requested by a dis- 
tinguished citizen of Boston, Martin Brimmer, Esq., the Mayor 
elect of the city, — (whose name is here mentioned to satisfy a 
reasonable public curiosity, though wholly without his consent 
or knowledge,) to cause an edition o( thirly-Jive hundred co^iies of 
the following work, entitled "T/te School and the Schoolmaster,^^ 
to be printed, and to be distributed in the following manner, 
namely, — one copy to feach of the Public Schools in the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts, — and one copy to each Board of 
superintending school committee men. 

Tt is the desire of the donor that these volumes shall be placed 
in the hands of the prudential committee men, or of such other 
persons as the districts respectively may select as their trustees, 
to be by them loaned to the teachers who may be successively 
employed in the schools, — and after the same have been read by 
the teachers, then to any inhabitants of the districts who may 
wish to peruse them. It is also his desire and expectation, that 
the copies given to the superintending school committees shall be 
considered the property of said committees, for the time being, 
and be delivered over by each Board, at the expiration of its 
official term, to its successors in office. 

The range and compass of the subjects embraced in this vol- 
ume, and the masterly manner in which they are treated, com- 
mend it to the careful perusal of every person engaged in the 
sacred cause of education, of every lover of his country and friend 
of mankind. The reputation of the gentlemen by whom it was 
written is a high guaranty of its excellence ; and it is believed 
that the more the work is examined and understood, the more will 
it redound to the credit of its authors. 

It seems proper here to state, that " TTie School and the School- 
master " was originally prepared in compliance with the request, 
and at the expense, of that munificent friend and patron of Com- 
mon Schools, the Hon. James Wadsworth, of Geneseo, New 
York, by whom a copy has been gratuitously sent to each district 
school in that Slate, — almost eleven thousand in number, — one to 



each deputy superintendent, one to each of the governors of the 
several States, &c. &c. 

Although a month has not yet elapsed since the first edition 
was issued from the press, yet already is Massachusetts the 
second State, where the liberality of a public-spirited individual 
has secured the benefits of this admirable work to all who are en- 
gaged in our public schools, and to the whole of the rising gene- 
ration. Thus may the States of New York and Massachusetts 
forever be compeers, if not competitors, in the Christian enter- 
prise of educating the whole people ; and may these distinguished 
public benefactors, in addition to the gratitude of their own 
States, soon enjoy the happiness of seeing their example imi- 
tated in each of the remaining States of the Union. 

The subscriber avails himself of this occasion to express an 
earnest hope, that all teachers, school committees and friends of 
education will not only give the work an attentive examination 
themselves, but will commend it to the attention of their fellow- 
citizens generally. In this way may the benevolent purposes of 
the donor be fully realized, the public mind be enlarged and 
quickened on the paramount subject of a universal education for 
the people, and the high destiny of our nature be fulfilled by a 
progressive improvement in the character and condition of the 
race. 

The strong and sincere commendation which the subscriber 
gladly accords to the following work, ought not to be understood 
as an unqualified approval of every sentiment it contains. Pro- 
bably no two indepouhmt minds ever existed whose opinions 
would perfectly harmonize in regard to all the particulars of so 
comprehensive a subject. 

HORACE MANN, 
Secretary of the Board of Education. 

Boston, Dec. 2ifh, 1812. 



Note. In making up the, number of copies for each of the 
towns in the Commonwealth, the Abstract of the Massachusetts 
School Returns, for the year 1841-2, will be taken as a direc- 
tory. 



p" 



f 



^ 1^ m- 

JBeool, trees. | | 






I^f 




^ gate "^ 



E1tt> -trees-. 



8 lods. 



Hi^lrway. 



Fhu. of Grounds, &c 



PART I. 



THE SCHOOL 



ITS OBJECTS, RELATIONS, AND USES. 



■WITH A SKETC: 



EDTJCATION MOST NEEDED IN THE UNITED STATES, THE 

PRESENT STATE OF COMMON SCHOOLS, THE BEST 

MEANS OF IMPROVING THEM, 

ANB THE CONSEQUENT 

DUTIES OF PARENTS, TRUSTEES, INSPECTORS, &c. 



ALONZO POTTER, D.D., 

PROFESSOB OF MORAL FKILOSOFHT IN UNION COLLEGE. 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY WM. B. FOWLE & N. CAPEN, 

NO. 184 WASHINGTON ST. 

184 3. 



CONTENTS. 



Paso 

Inteoduction 1 

CHAPTER I. 

EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 

Sec. I. What is Education ] 19 

II. Prevailing Errors in regard to the Nature and End of 

Education 28^ 

III. The same Subject continued .... 35 

IV. Same Subject continued 50 

v. What is the Education most needed by the American 

People 1 64 

VI. The Importance of Education, 1. To the Individual . 91 

VII. " " 2. ToSocie- . . Ill 



CHAPTER II. 

COMMOX SCHOOLS. 

Sec. I. Relation of Common Schools to other Means of Educa- 
tion 154 

II. Present State of Common Schools. — 1. Schoolhouses. 

2. Manners. 3. Morals 168 

III. Same Subject continued. — 4. Intellectual Instruction. 

5. Irregular Attendance 180 

IV. How can Common Schools he improved? — 1. Discussion. 

2. Female Teachers. 3. Union or High Schools. 

4. Consolidation of Districts ..... 197 
V. The Improvement of Common Schools (continued). Or- 
ganisation in Cities. — 1. District System. 2. Mon- 
itorial. 3. Facher System. 4. American System. 

5. Diversity of Class-books 218 

VI. Same Subject continued. — Education of Teachers . . 236 



INTRODUCTION. 



" Were the benefits of civilization to be partial, not universal, it 
would be only a bitter mockery and cruel injustice." — Duchatel. 

A LATE writer (Laraartine) has spoken of the cross and 
the press as the instruments of the two greatest movements 
ever made in behalf of human civilization. To these may 
be added two other agents of mighty power : the steam- 
engine and the common school. The moral nature of man 
can be permanently raised and transformed by nothing 
short of the benignant influence of Christianity. His in- 
tellectual powers can be duly developed and wisely applied 
only under the guidance of knowledge ; and of knowledge 
the press is now the grand expositor and representative. 
To promote his physical well-being, we need industry ; and 
of that industry which subdues the earth, vanquishes time 
and space, and makes all things tributary to man's conve- 
nience, the steam-engine is unquestionably the most proper 
symbol. 

It is worthy of remark, that as each of these great powers 
is necessary to the improvement of mankind, so each of 
them becomes more efficient in proportion as it co-operates 
with the rest. Christianity needs the press, the press 
needs the steam-engine ; and these, in their turn, are safe 
and beneficent agents only when they who wield them are 
animated and controlled by Christian principle. It is still 
more to our purpose, however, to observe, that no one of 
them can exert its appropriate influence, or dispense its 
proper benefits without the aid of the school. Minds, for 
instance, besotted by ignorance and unaccustomed to thought, 
A 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

can hardly be reached by the more lofty and spiritual ap- 
peals which are sent forth from the cross of Christ. The 
press must speak in vain to those who cannot read, or who, 
to the mechanical art of interpreting its mysterious symbols, 
have never added habits of inquiry, or a desire for knowl- 
edge. And even industry, although it always brings some 
blessings to those whom it employs, can still do compara- 
tively little for men who alienate their higher natures when 
they labour, or who waste its fruits in sensual indulgence, 
or in mental vacancy. It is only in proportion as minds 
are awakened by early education, that they can share in 
the fruits of an improved civilization. To shut them out 
from the school, is to deny them access to a large propor- 
tion of the best and noblest influences, which are supplied 
by Christianity, and by science and the arts. 

But if the school is an essential agent of civilization, it is 
the Common School, that forms the appropriate agent of 
modern and democratic civilization — of that civilization 
which aims at the greatest good of the greatest number. 
A.S this end is peculiar to the social movements of modem 
times, so is the instrument which it employs. Schools 
have always been found in the train of civilization, as the 
only means by which her blessings could be preserved and 
perpetuated ; but the idea of schools which should secure 
to every human being, by improving his mind, a substantial . 
share in the triumphs of Learning, Liberty, and Religion, 
this, it is believed, was an idea unknown to the wisest of 
ancient sages and states. They wrote and speculated much 
about education ; but it was an education denied to more 
than foiu: fifths of the people, who, being barbarians, were 
bom, according to Aristotle, to be slaves, and who, as slaves, 
were denied all spiritual as well as civil rights. It was an 
education, too, by wliich the citizen was to be moulded for 
the exclusive service of the commonwealth, rather than one 



INTRODUCTION. 6 

which was to unfold in due proportion all his powers, and 
prepare him for a course of free and generous self-culture. 

In the Middle Ages, when education was dispensed in 
monastic establishments, and enjoyed, for the most part, 
only by the clergy, we are not to wonder that the people 
were in ignorance. Even after the revival of letters, and 
when the art of Printing had awakened the slumbering in- 
tellect of Europe, little progress was made in popular ed- 
ucation until the Bible had been translated into living lan- 
guages, and the privilege of reading it had come to be reck- 
oned as one of the most precious, among the rights of the 
Christian and the man. The rule which was then exten- 
sively adopted in the Continental churches, of admitting no 
one to his first communion who could not read the Scrip- 
tiu-es, coupled with another rule, which made this first com- 
munion necessary in order to qualify Mm for marriage or 
any civil employment — ^these regulations naturally served 
to make a certain degree of instruction universal through- 
out the north of Europe. 

The same religious and enlightened spirit presided over 
the legislation of the early settlers of New-England. Both 
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, it was ordained by law, 
almost immediately after their settlement,* that the select- 
men of the towns should see that " every parent or master 
insti-ucted the young members of his family (whether chil- 
dren, apprentices, or servants) in so much learning as would 
enable them perfectly to read the English tongue and have a 
knowledge of the capital laws ; that once a week he should 
catechise them in the grounds and principles of religion ; 
and that every young person should be carefully bred and 
brought up to some honest, lawful calling, labour, or employ- 
ment." It will be observed that these regulations are, in 

* In Massachusetts in 1642, in Connecticut in 1650. 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

truth, more enlightened and comprehensive than those which 
had been adopted in Europe at the era of tlie Reformation. 
In the latter, religions culture seems to have been almost 
the only object ; in the former, it was also an object to 
make enlightened citizens capable of self-government, and 
trained to habits of regular industry. 

Not satisfied, however, with these provisions for domestic 
education, the inhabitants soon proceeded to lay the founda- 
tion of that Common School system which has been so long 
the pride and strength of New-England. As early as 1647, 
only twenty-seven years after the landing of the Mayflower 
at Plymouth, it was enacted in Massachusetts, in order that 
" learning," to use the language of the statute, " might not 
be buried in the graves of their forefathers both in church 
and commonwealth — that (the Lord assisting their endeav- 
ours) in every township containing fifty householders or 
more, one should forthwith be appointed to teach such chil- 
dren as should resort to him to read and write ; and that, 
in any township containing one hundred householders, they 
should set up a grammar-school to fit youth for the Univer- 
sity." This law, planting elementary schools at the door of 
every family, was the first, it is presumed, adopted by any 
Christian state,* and may claim to be the parent of much 

* It is somewhat humiliating to reflect, that the earhest law on rec- 
ord, providing for the universal diffusion of school education, was the 
work of a people whom we are pleased to style barbarians (the Chi- 
nese), and was in existence two thousand years ago. According to 
a late writer (Davis), it required that every town and village, down 
even to a few families, should have a Common School. He also 
states that one of their works, of a date anterior to the Christian 
era, speaks of the '^ancient system of instruction." It is proper, how 
ever, to add, that it does not seem to have been the object of the 
Chinese, as of the New-England system, to favour a free and full 
development of man's nature. The studies are confined by authori- 
ty to one unvarying routine ; science, properly so called, is exclu- 
ded ; the spirit of spontaneous inquiry is repressed, and the whole aim 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

of the legislation on the subject of Popular Instructioa 
which has distinguished the last half centuiy.* 

To maintain and peipetuate religious knowledge among 
the people was evidently the chief object with the framers 
of these early school-laws, both in the Old World and in 
the New. With some notion of the importance, as well to 
the state as to the individual, of a comprehensive and gen- 
erous culture, which should awaken and train all the powers 
of the soul, it is still clear that they failed to recognise all 
its value in these respects. In Europe it is now admitted 
that the elementary education given in obedience to these 
regulations contributed but little to raise the character oi the 

is to make an orderly and industrious servant of the state as now 
constituted. To use the language of another, " the whole channel 
of thought and feeling for each generation is scooped out by that which 
preceded it, and tiie stream always fills, but rarely overflows its em- 
bankments." It is also questionable whether the Chinese schools 
succeed in making the whole population capable, as is sometimes 
said, of reading. According to some missionaries, many of the in- 
habitants are unable to read at all, and others do it mechanically, and 
without any perception of the meaning of the author. 

* The system of parochial schools in Scotland is sometimes ap- 
pealed to, as the earliest example of a legal provision for universal 
education. The law, however, establishing these schools, was not 
passed till 169G, nearly 50 yfears after the enactment of the one in 
Massachusetts ; and the preamble of that law clearly shows that 
the previous efforts of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scot- 
land, and of the civil government in behalf of Education, had failed 
to make it general. This preamble states that " Our Sovereign 
Lord, considering how prejudicial the loant of schools in many places 
had been, and how beneficial the establishing and settling thereof 
will be to this church and kingdom, therefore his majesty, with ad- 
vice and consent," &c., and then the act proceeds to order that a 
school be established and a schoolmaster appointed in every parish, 
and that the landlords be obliged to build a schoolhouse and a 
dwelling-house for the use of the master, and that they pay him a 
certain salar)-, exclusive of the fees of the scholars. 
A2 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

mass of the people. In New-England, much was probably 
ascribed to schools which resulted from other causes, such 
as the animating influence of a New World, with all its 
tempting prizes, its numberless incentives to enterprise and 
forecast, and the opportunities which it afforded, in its po- 
litical and ecclesiastical institutions, for the cultivation and 
gradual development of knowledge and power.* 

That these schools have exercised a vast and most happy- 
influence, not only over New-England, but over all parts of 
our countiy, is unquestionable ; yet it is evident that even in 
Massachusetts itself, the very cradle of the system, their 
unspeakable importance has not been duly appreciated. 
While wealth and population Avere increasing, and educa- 
tion, of course, was growing more^ and more necessary, the 
statute-books of that state show for a long period only a de- 
clining interest in schools. The salutary rigour of the 
primitive laws was gradually relaxed, till in 1789 it was 
ordained that common schools need be maintained but six 
months in the year, and grammar-schools only when there 
were two hundred householders in a town; and in 1824 it 
was declared, that in towns having less than five thousand 
inhabitants, none but a teacher o( English need be provided. f 
It is grateful to add, however, that during the last five years 
this downward course of legislation has been arrested,^ and 

* The influence which our institutions exert (especially as they 
unfold themselves in New-England) in developing intelligence, self- 
control, and activity, has been explained with great clearness and 
accuracy by De Tocqueville. See his Democracy in America. 

t There was also a provision in the colony charter of Massachu- 
setts, that towns of more than 500 families should support two gram- 
mar-schools and Iwo writing-schools. This provision disappeared 
in the later, commonly called the province, charter. 

X The testimony of the present enlightened secretary of the Board 
of Education (in Massachusetts) indicates how much the schools had 
failed to accomplish their ends. Speaking of their state at the time 
of his appointment (1837), he says, "The Common School system 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

that the most enlightened and liberal efforts are now ma- 
king to raise the standard of public instruction in that an- 
cient and honoured commonwealth. 

In our own state, the Common School — as part of a sys- 
tem of public instruction, maintained and encouraged by 
law — is of recent origin. The act establishing the Com- 
mon School Fund, which has formed the basis of the sys- 
tem, was passed in 1805 ;* but no revenue was distributed, 

of Massachusetts has fallen into a state of general unsoundness and 
debility ; a great majority of the schoolhouses are not only ill adapt- 
ed to encourage mental effort, but in many cases are absolutely 
perilous to the health and symmetrical growth of the children ; the 
schools are under a sleepy supervision ; many of the most intelligent 
and wealthy of our citizens have become estranged from their wel- 
fare ; and the teachers of the schools, although, with very few ex- 
ceptions, persons of estimable character and of great private worth, 
yet, in the absence of all opportunities to qualify themselves for the 
performance of the most delicate and difficult task which, in the ar- 
rangements of Providence, is committed to human hands, are ne- 
cessarily, and therefore without fault of their o wn, deeply and wide- 
ly deficient in the two indispensable prerequisites for their office, 
viz., a knowledge «f the human mind as the subject of improvement, 
and a knowledge of the means best adapted wisely to unfold and di- 
rect its growing faculties." 

* Ten years eai'lier, a temporary appropriation (S50,000 annually 
for five years) was made " for the encouragement of schools." Ow- 
ing to the state of the treasury, but about $150,000 of this appropri- 
ation was realized. The statute was in many respects imperfect, 
and was suffered to expire ; but it contained one important princi- 
ple, which was afterward incorporated with the Common School sys- 
tem of the state. This was, that the supervisors of the counties 
should distribute the amount of the grant among the several towns, 
and that these towns should raise equal amounts by tax. By the 
existing law, however, the money is apportioned according to the 
whole population ; by the law of 1795 it was distributed according to 
the number of taxable inhabitants. The former is evidently the more 
equitable and benevolent provision ; and it may be doubted whether 
the principle of it ought not to be extended. The moneys granted 
from the state treasury are intended both to encourage and to assist 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

nor was any system organized, till ten years later. But 
twenty-seven years have now elapsed since the organiza- 
tion was completed, and it is most cheering to consider, that 
within that brief space, ten thousand and five hundred 
schools have been established and supplied, with school- 
houses ; that nearly three millions of dollars are now annu- 
ally expended in their support ; and that more than five hun- 
dred thousand children are reported as being under instruc- 
tion. 

A fund, amounting in all to more than five millions of dol- 
lars, is held sacred by the state for their use, and the an- 
nual revenue of this fund, together with an equal sum raised 
by taxation, is dispensed each year among all the School 
Districts of the state, in proportion to the number of chil- 
dren within the bounds of each, and on condition, that the 
school is kept open four months in the year, by a teacher 
who has been duly examined and licensed. That these 
schools have exerted a great and beneficial influence can 
hardly be doubted. In 1816,* when the first returns Avere 

the people in educating their children. In both respects, it is often 
more needed, and would prove more useful, in sparsely settled dis- 
tricts, where the inhabitants are generally poor, than in districts 
which are rich and populous. It may be doubted, too, whether the dis- 
tribution should not be so regulated as to stimulate improvement, both 
in the attendance of scholars and in the qualifications of teachers. 
By the present law, the amount. apportioned to a town depends on 
the whole population ; the amount apportioned to a district depends 
on the number of children in said district over Jive and under sixteen 
years of age. Would it not be an improvement if, leaving the ap- 
portionment to the towns as it is, the amount allowed to the districts 
were according to the actual attendance at school for any given 
period ] 

* The present Common School system owes its organization to 
a law passed in 1811, authorizing the governor to appoint five com- 
missioners, to report to the next Legislature a system for the estab- 
lishment of Common Schools, and the distribution of the interest 
of the School Fund. These commissioners reported on the 4th of 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

made, one fifth of all the children in tlie state, between the 
ages of 5 and 16,Avere not in attendance ; whereas, in 1839, 
but one eightieth part of the whole were in that condition.* 
And while this system has been thus rapidly extending in 
our own state, similar systems have been rising, both in 
the new states of the West, and in several of the older ones 
on the Atlantic coast. By law, one thirty-sixth part of all 
lands owned by the General Government, within the limits 
of the new states, is reserved for the support of common 
schools, besides large tracts which are appropriated to 
academies and colleges ; and thus provision is made that 
population, as it moves westward, shall carry education in its 
train, and be kept in constant contact with the genial influ- 
ences of knowledge and civilization. 

A similar movement in favour of the universal diffusion 
of knowledge by means of schools, has been made through- 
out a large part of Europe. Systems which had been grad- 
ually maturing for the last two centiu-ies — some under the 
auspices of governments, and some through private benefi- 
cence — ^but which were still incomplete and unorganized, 
have at length been thoroughly digested, and have become 
more or less incorporated with the state. In Europe, the 
whole subject of education — from that dispensed in the pri- 
mary school to that which is imparted in the university — is 
placed under the supervision of some public functionary ; 
and by such means, the powerful aid of the government is 
employed in sustaining, directing, and stimulating the ener- 
gies of the people, and the liberality of the benevolent. At 

February, 1812 ; and on the 19th of the following June an act was 
passed, providing for the appointment of a superintendent, and the 
organization of a system substantially the same as the one now in 
force. 

* See the able report of the superintendent for 1840 — Table 
marked T). 



!0 INTRODUCTION. 

this moment, provisions adequate to the elementary instruc- 
tion of all the children in the land, exist not only in Prus- 
sia, but also in Holland, in Saxony, Austria, and all the other 
states of Germany ; in France, Switzerland, Denmark, 
Sweden, and Norway. Even in Russia, so long the abode 
of barbarism, and associated now, in most minds, with little 
of refinement or civilization, a system of universal educa- 
tion is in the course of construction ; and already the ge- 
nial influence of the District School is enjoyed in unhappy 
Poland, in the dreary wastes of Siberia, and in the wild and 
inhospitable regions beyond Mount Caucasus.* Indeed, the 
time seems to have arrived — let the Christian and the phi- 
lanthropist hail it with joy — when the great truth, so long 
overlooked by statesmen and philosophers, is to be univer- 
sally recognised throughout the most enlightened parts of 
Christendom — the truth that all are entitled to a share in 
the great heritage of knowledge and thought — that the de- 
velopment of his faculties by scholastic culture is a right 
which belongs to every human being, and that it is not more 
the duty of governments to recognise and protect this right, 
than it is their interest to cherish and extend it. 

Nor is this all. The last fifty years have witnessed an- 
other movement in regard to popular education, scarcely less 
cheering. It was once thought sufficient, if schools were 
established and maintained. But it is now known that all 
this may be accomplished, and yet little be really achieved 
for the cause of human improvement. That schools may, 
in some cases, be substantially useless and inoperative — 
that in others, they may be employed by a despotic govern- 
ment as convenient agents for keeping aloof the spirit of 
change and advancement — and that in others, again, they 
may, by a too exclusive cultivation of the intellect and by 

* See the report of Prof. Stowe ou the State of Education in Eu- 
rope. 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

ministering to the lower propensities, train up a factious 
and disorganizing spirit — these are sad but momentous 
truths, wliich have at last forced themselves on the atten- 
tion of the friends of humanity. It has been discovered, 
too, that everything human tends to degenerate, and that a 
system of public instruction, however perfect, can be upheld 
in its vigour and excellence, only by unceasing vigilance. 
A profound conviction of all tliis has led to the cultivation 
of a new art, and, it may be added, to the formation of a 
new science. 

Elementary teaching, which, it was once supposed, might 
be intrusted to any one, and which was, in fact, usually 
committed (would that such were no longer the case) only 
to those whom physical infirmity had rendered unequal to 
every other emplojnnent, is now beginning to be regarded 
as an art requiring skill and address, and as implying, also, 
an active exercise of the moral sentiments and affections. 
It is discovered that i^edagogy (as the Germans, by whom 
its principles have been most thoroughly investigated, term 
it) is a science founded on the nature of man, and to be de- 
duced as well from the study of that nature as from the col- 
lective experience of manldnd ; that if it be absurd for a 
man to practise medicine or law, without any special in- 
struction and training preparatory to his profession, so is it 
absurd in itself — fraught with danger to the subject, and 
with presumption in the operator — for one to attempt to de- 
velop, inform, and guide the faculties of a child without 
previous preparation. In connexion with improved meth- 
ods of training teachers, there have been adopted more ef- 
fectual means of supervising their labours, and of securing 
for them the co-operation of the public as well as the pow- 
erful aid of the government. Thus has arisen, in most of 
the countries of central Europe, a new branch of social sci- 
ence — one which occupies a prominent place in the eyes 
of the statesman, as well as in those of the philosopher. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

The end of public instruction is no longer merely to have 
schools, but to have good schools ; schools which shall be 
sure to awaken mind and cultivate good principles — which 
shall be imbued with the spirit alike of progress and of con- 
servatism — which shall contain within themselves the ele- 
ments of permanent improvement, and be the perennial 
sources of a healthy and powerful influence to those whom 
they train. 

In this great and benignant reform the people of the' Uni- 
ted States have shared but partially. Though we are more 
dependant on education for our welfare than any other na- 
tion, it is still a melancholy truth that some of the most ar- 
bitrary governments of Europe have done more, within the 
last half century, to provide good schools and good teachers 
for their subjects, than has been done by the free people of 
this land, to make a similar provision for themselves. We 
are not left, however, without some grounds of encourage- 
ment. In Massachusetts and Connecticut, where the Com- 
mon School system first saw the light, Central Boards have 
been instituted under the eye of the State Governments, and 
have been charged with the duty of awakening a new and 
'more general interest on the subject of primary education 
among the people, and of leading them to the adoption of 
more uniform and efiicient methods. A gentleman of ardent 
zeal and enlightened views has also been appointed in each 
of those states, as well as in others, to carry out these plans 
by personal visitation and addresses, as well as through the 
medium of the press, and by assembling the people of dif- 
ferent districts for mutual conference. In New-York — be- 
sides measures, recently adopted for training teachers and 
establisliing School District Libraries, which have been pro- 
ductive of the happiest results — a new element of vigour and 
improvement has been introduced within the last year, in 
the appointment of a Deputy Superintendent of Common 
Schools for each coimty. In the mean time, the press ev 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

erywhere teems with the most earnest and searching dis- 
cussion of all subjects which have a bearing on the welfare 
of schools ;* and though the experienced observer may see 
much in these discussions which is crude and visionary, 
they still show that the public mind is awake, and that it is 
bent on improvement. 

It would seem, then, that we have reached a most inter- 
esting era in the progress of popular education. With us, 
the people are now addressing themselves to the work of 
regenerating and perfecting their own schools. What, in 
other countries, has been accomplished mainly by the strong 
arm of laAv, is to be accomplished here (if at all) by the vol- 
untary action of parents and citizens, aided and superintend- 
ed by the state ; and in no work more important, or fraught 
with more eventful consequences, were we ever called to 
enlist. Did our fathers assert successfully and triumphant- 
ly our national independence, it was chiefly because they 
had been fitted for the arduous and high task by the nurtu- 
ring influence of schools and churches. Did they and their 
successors lay deep and broad the foundations of our free- 
dom and prosperity, and rear Avith surpassing skill and 
prudence the structure of constitutional law, it must be 
attributed, in gTeat part, to the same causes. An uneduca- 
ted, imdisciplined people, leave no such monuments of wis- 
dom and patriotism behind them. Is it to be expected, 

* More has probably been written on the subject of education 
within the last fifty years, than during all previous time. Another 
fact is also worthy of notice, as significant of the change which har. 
passed over the opinions of mankind on this subject. Formerly, 
when writers treated of education, they had reference only to "our 
noble and gentle youth," as Milton terms them ; to those who were 
intended for the higher walks of life. This was the case with 
Locke, Fcnelon, Ascham, and with Milton himself It is only within 
the last century that we find education proper, i. e., the education of 
the whole people, made the subject of prominent discussion. 
13 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

then, that a people uneducated and undisciplined can long 
preserve these monuments,* or can ever reap the appropri- 
ate fruits of our institutions and our privileges ? Nothing 
is now nt>eded to make our heritage as blessed in reality as 
it is in promise but refined habits, stem principles of virtue, 
and an enlightened appreciation, diffused among all our peo- 
ple, of our responsibilities and powers. It is superfluous to 
add, that such principles are not to be developed except by 
culture. To expect that men will become wise, virtuous, 
or happy by mere accident, or without specific exertions di- 
rected to these ends, is to expect that this world's history 
is to be reversed, and that its future will give the lie to all 
its past. " Vice," says Seneca, " we can learn ourselves, 
but virtue and wisdom require a tutor." 

This volume is a contribution to the great work of school 
regeneration which is now in progress. It is offered with 
a deep sense, not only of the importance, but also of the dif- 
ficulty of the undertaking. It is offered in the humble but 
earnest hope of being able to afford some suggestions which 
will prove useful, not only to teachers, but also to parents, in- 
spectors, school commissioners, and other officers, as well 
as to the friends of education generally. During the last 
thirty years there has been much discussion, as well as ex- 
periment, in regard to different systems of public instruction. 
The best methods of providing well-qualified teachers, the 
relative efficacy of different modes of teaching and disci- 
pline, and the surest means of maintaining schools in a 
healthy and efficient state, have all been subjects of exam- 
ination. It will be the object of this volume, avoiding mere 

* William Penn, himself a scholar, legislator, and philanthropist, 
thus announces, in his "Frame of Government," the fundamental 
principle of a free people : " That which makes a good government," 
says he, " must .keep it so, viz., men of wisdom and virtue propaga- 
ted by a virtuous education of youth.'''' 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

conjecture or speculation, to collect such results and prin- 
ciples, as may seem to have been settled by the experience 
of the past. It will also aim at the cultivation, among all 
who are connected with schools, of a more adequate sense 
of their importance, and of a spirit of improvement and re- 
form at once active and chastened. 

It consists of Two Parts. 

The First Part will treat of, 

I. The Education of the People ; its nature, object, 
importance, practicability, means, &c. 

II. The Common School ; its relation to other means 
of education, and to civilization. 

III. The Present State of Common Schools. 
JV. Means of Improvement. 

Schaiectady, July, 1842. 



EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 



B2 



P4RT I. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 

SECTION I. 

WHAT IS EDUCATION 1 

" I call that education which embraces the culture of the whole 
man, with all his faculties — subjecting his senses, his understanding, 
and his passions to reason, to conscience, and to the evangelical 
laws of the Christian revelation." — De Fellenbekg. 

The term Education* when employed in its primitive 
and literal signification, means the drawing out or develop- 
ment of the human faculties. When we look on a child, 
we perceive at once that, besides corporeal organs and 
powers, he has a spiritual nature. In these organs them- 
selves, with their ceaseless but not unmeaning activity, we 
see evidence that this little being has intelligence, sensi- 
bility, and will. Such powers exist in early infancy but as 
germes, which are destined, however, to burst forth, and 
which, Uke the vegetating powers of the seed that we have 
planted, are ready to be directed and controlled by us, al- 
most at our will. As we can train up to a healthy and 
graceful maturity the young plant, which, if neglected, would 
have proved unsightly and sterile, so can we train up in the 
way he should go that child, who, if left to himself, would 
have been almost certain to be vicious and ignorant. It is 
the peculiar pliability and impressibility of this early period 
of life, that give it such claims on the educator. f When 

* From the Latin words e and duco, to lead or draw out of 

+ " Certainly," says Lord Bacon, " custom is most perfect when 



20 THE SCHOOL AND 

habit has once fastened itself on the intellect and the heart, 
appeals and influences are comparatively powerless. In 
whatever degree, then, it may be our interest and duty to 
promote the welfare of our fellow-creatures, and especially 
of our own children, in the same degree does it become 
important, that we lose no portion of that which is the pre- 
cious seedtime of their lives. Hardly any season is too 
early for the culture of this soil ; and if it would be reckon- 
ed the height of guilt to refuse food or raiment to the body 
of a helpless little one, what must we think of that cruel 
neglect which leaves its nobler nature to pine, and finally 
to perish, for lack of knowledge ? Educated in one sense 
this child will be — if not for weal, then for wo ! 

" For nature, crescent, does not grow alone 
In thews and bulk ; but as this temple wjixes, 
The inward service of the mind and soul 
Grows wide withal." 

It is for the parent and guardian to decide what character 
this development shall take. 

The power of education we are not disposed to overrate. 
It has sometimes been described, even by wise men, as an 
all-prevailing agent, which can " turn the minds of children 
as easily this way or that, as water itself,"* and before 

it beginneth in young years ; this we call education, which is, in effect, 
but an early custom. So we see in languages, the tongue is more 
pliant to all expressions and sounds ; the joints are more supple to 
all feats of activity and motions in youth than afterward ; for it is 
true, that late learners cannot so well take the ply, except it be in 
some minds that have not suffered themselves to fix, but they kept 
their minds open and prepared to receive continual amendment, 
which is exceeding rare." 

* This is the language of Locke in his Treatise on Education. 
In another passage he says, " I think I may say, that of all the men 
we meet with, nine parts out of ten are what they are, good or evil, 
useful or not, by their education. It is this which makes the 
great difference in mankind, and in their manners and abilities." 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 21 

wliich all original differences may be made to disappear. 
It seems to us, that a slight acquaintance with children is 
sufficient to refute this theor}^ Even when reared in the 
same family and subjected to the same course of physical 
and moral training, children exhibit, amid a general resem- 
blance in manners and principles, the greatest diversity in 
endowments and disposition. It is evidently not to be de- 
sired, that all men and women should be cast in the same 
intellectual more than in the same corporeal mould ; and 
hence, though compounded of the same primitive elements, 
these elements have been so variously mingled and com- 
bined, that each individual has his own peculiar and inde- 
structible nature, as well as his own sphere of action — ^that 
thus every place and calling can be filled. As this variety, 
then, exists, and can never be entirely effaced, it ought to be 
respected in education. 

But does it follow that the work of education is therefore 
slight or unimportant ? While we are bound to take the 
individual as he is, and having ascertained liis peculiar type 
of character and measure of capacity, to keep these ever in 
new, is there not still a vast work to be accomplished ? It 
is the business of education, to watch the dormant powers 
and foster their healthy and well-proportioned growth, re- 
straining and repressing where their natural activity is too 
great, and stimulating them when they are too feeble. To 
respect each one's individuality is not only consistent with 



In a practical work, which aimed at convincing men that much 
greater care ought to be taken in the education of youth, this was 
an error on the right side. It is not likely that the bulk of mankind 
will, in practice, ever exaggerate the efficacy of care and culture. 
But, among theorists and philanthropists, the error is fraught with 
bad consequences. It leads them to undervalue the experience of 
the past, and to expect too much from new plans of training and 
instruction, and to vary those plans too frequently. 



22 THE SCHOOL AND 

this great work, but is indispensable to its highest success 
Doing so, we can effect vast changes and improvements 
in character. The sluggish we may not be able to inspire 
with great vivacity, nor subdue the ardent and enthusiastic 
to the tone of a calm and calculating spirit. But we can 
arrest in each dangerous tendencies ; in each we can cor- 
rect mental obliquities and distortions, and cultivate a healthy 
and self-improving power. We can study the purposes of 
the Creator in framing such a mind, and strive wisely, as 
well as tmceasingly, to fulfil those purposes. In one word, 
we can labour to rear this child, yet without fixed charac- 
ter or compacted energies, to the stature of a perfect man 
or woman. As one star differeth from another star in mag- 
nitude and splendour, though each in its appointed place be 
equally perfect, so in the intellectual and spiritual firmament 
one mind may outshine another, and yet both alike be per- 
fect in their sphere, and in fulfilling the mission assigned 
them by God. 

Milton has called that " a complete and generous edu- 
cation which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and 
magnanimously, all the offices, both private and public, of 
peace and of war." It is evident that such an education can 
be enjoyed by few ; and that, though enjoyed by all, it would 
bestow, on but a limited number, the lofty capacities indica- 
ted by the great poet. A vast proportion of the walks of 
human life are humble and sheltered. Let us be grateful, 
however, that while in such walks we escape the fiery trials 
which await those who tread the high places of earth, they 
still afford scope and opportunity for the exercise of the 
most manly and generous qualities. He may be great, 
both intellectually and morally, who has filled no distin- 
guished " office," either " of peace or of war." Let it rath- 
er be our object, then, in rearing the young, to form a. perfect 
character — to build up a spirit of which all must say, as was 
said of Brutus by Antony, 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 23 

■ His life was gentle, and the elements 
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up, 
And say to all the world. This was a man /" 



Such, then, in general, is the object of education. Let 
us be more particular. The child comes into life ignorant 
and imbecile. With faculties which, duly trained, fit him to 
traverse the universe of truth, he yet begins his course a 
helpless stranger. To him, this uiuverse is all a mighty 
maze, without a plan. He is a stranger alike to himself, 
to the world, and to God. But daily his faculties open ; his 
intellectual eye begins to turn towards the light of truth, as 
his organic eye turns towards the sunbeam that falls across 
his chamber. His senses, those fleet messengers, carry to 
hiin constant intelligence from the world without. Soon he 
comes to remember and compare these reports — to reason 
and resolve. His mind now yearns after more knowledge. 
Through the livelong day, save when tired nature claims 
repose, he is busy seeking, or receiving with unexpected 
delight, new accessions of truth. All the while his facul- 
ties of memory and comparison — of judgment and abstrac- 
tion — of generalization and inference, are in exercise ; and, 
though no book opens its mysterious light upon his under- 
standing, nor living voice pours into his ear the fruits of 
another's experience and knowledge, he is still for himself 
a learner. 

Yet such a progress — which is only instinctive and spon- 
taneous — plainly needs direction, and will, if left to itself, 
soon reach its utmost limit. The forlorn condition of the 
untutored deaf mute shows how meager and deceptive are 
the attainments of every unaided mind ; and, even where 
such a barrier has not been interposed by nature, we find 
that those who have been left without fonnal instruction 
soon become stationary, and that their minds are crowded 
with errors and prejudices. It is the province of education 



24 THE SCHOOL AND 

{i. e., of a system of training and tuition conducted by rule) 
to take this restless spirit, rejoicing in the consciousness of 
its awakened powers and thirsting for knowledge, and to con- 
duct it, for a time, along the straight path of true wisdom. 
For, why was that spirit, in the very outset of its course, 
made so helpless 1 Why was it deprived of those instincts 
which conduct the inferior animals, infallibly, to their be- 
ing's end and aim 1 Why attached for months to a mother's 
breast, and afterward sheltered and kept in life and health 
only by unceasing vigilance and care ? Why, but to en- 
gage all a parent's energies in its nurture and full develop- 
ment ; or, rather, why, but to engage them in fitting it for 
the unending work of self-development 1 The brute needs 
but a few powers, for it has but few wants, and they are to 
last but a few years. Man has wants and desires as bomid- 
less as his own immortality. 

To educate the intellect, then, is to so unfold, direct, and 
strengthen it, that it shall be prepared to be, through all its 
future course, a zealous and success'ful seeker after truth. 
It is to give it control of its own powers, and to teach it to- 
wards what those powers should be directed. It is to en 
dow it by practice with the ability to collect its energies at 
will, and to fix them long on one point. It is to train the 
senses to observe accurately ; the memory to register care- 
fully and recall readily ; the reason to compare, reflect, and 
judge without partiality or passion. It is to infuse into the 
soul a principle of enduring activity and curiosity, such that 
it shall ever be awake in quest of light, never counting it- 
self to have apprehended, but pressing continually forward 
towards higher truths and a larger knowledge. 

Again, man begins life without virtue. He has propensi- 
ties that urge him to self-gratification, affections that impel 
him to gratify others, and moral instincts that incline him to 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 25 

duty. But, left to himself and without culture, his propen- 
sities predominate ; the aftections spend themselves in ca- 
pricious acts of kindness or charity ; and the moral instincts 
raise, without effect, their solemn and monitory voice. It 
is the office of moral education to harmonize these contend- 
ing and irregular powers, by restoring conscience to its 
rightful authority, and by replacing unreflecting impulses 
with fixed and enlightened principles. It is its business to 
cultivate habits which make man master of himself, and 
.vhich enable him, even when pressed by fierce temptation, 
to prefer loss, disgrace, and death itself, before dishonour. 
" The great principle and foundation of all virtue," says 
Locke, " lies in this : that a man is able to deny himself 
his own desires, cross his own inclinations, and purely fol- 
low what reason directs as best, though the appetite lean 
the other way." 

Again, man begins life without taste. Through his sen- 
ses, he is early attracted and charmed by what l|e terms 
beautiful. As he advances in years, these impiressions, 
made by outward objects, blend themselves with remem- 
brances of the past, and with creations of the mind itself. 
The result is seen in conceptions which bear away the 
soul from the imperfections and trials of actual life, to a 
world of imagined purity, beauty, and bliss. Now, in the 
untutored mind, these conceptions are rude and often un- 
couth. It is the province of education to give them form 
and symmetry — to teach the true difference between beau- 
ty and deformity — to inspire a love for simple excellence 
in literature and art, as well as a taste for the beauties and 
sublimities of nature — and, finally, to awaken a profound 
reverence for moral grandeur, and thus kindle aspirations 
after glory, honour, and immortalit^^ 

Finally, man begins life without physical vigour. Nei- 
C 



26 THE SCHOOL AND 

titer his intellectual nor liis moral powers can hold inter- 
course with, or act upon the world without, except through 
material organs. And in our present state, these organs are 
also necessary to the soul, even in its more spiritual opera- 
tions ; and they weigh it down to imbecility whenever they 
become greatly diseased or enfeebled. Mark how a Cae- 
sar quails before this foe ! 

" He had a fever when he was in Spain, 
And when the fit was on him, I did mark 
How he did shake ; 'tis true, this god did shake : 
His coward lips did from their colour fly ; 
And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world, 
Did lose his lustre : I did hear him groan ; 
Ay> and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans 
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, 
Alas ! it cried. Give me some drink, Titinius, 
As a sick girl." 

Hence the unspeakable importance o{ physical education, 
which teaches us how to guard against many diseases, how 
to maintain and improve the vigour of our bodies, and how 
to develop and perfect the delicacy of our senses. 

Do we ask, then, What is Education, or what, in the lan- 
guage of Milton, is a " virtuous and noble education ?" The 
answer is ready. It is, whatever tends to train up to a 
healthy and graceful activity our mental and bodily pow^ers, 
our affections, manners,* and habits. It is the business, of 

* The cultivation of manners is not sufficiently regarded in our 
systems of popular education. The following remarks of an English 
manufacturer, who devoted great care to the education of the fami- 
lies employed by him, are full of truth, and are applicable to our 
own country. " The importance of good manners among this class 
of people, as among all others, appeared to me to be very great, 
more so than is generally acknovi^ledged ; for though every one ap- 
proves and admires thum when met with, little attention is paid to 
their cultivation in the systems of instruction for the labouring 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 27 

course, of all our lives, or, more properly, of the whole dura- 
tion of our being. But since impressions made early are 
the deepest and most lasting, that is, above all, education 
which tends in childhood and youth to form a manly, up- 
light, and generous character, and thus to lay the founda- 
tion for a course of liberal and virtuous self-culture. " The 
education,^'' says an able writer, " required for the people, is 
that which will give them the full command of every facul- 
ty, both of mind and body ; which will call into play their 
powers of observation and reflection ; which will make 
thinking and reasonable beings of the mere creatures of im- 
pulse, prejudice, and passion ; that which, in a moral sense, 
will give them objects of pursuit and habits of conduct, fa- 
vourable to their own happiness, and to that of the communi- 
ty of which they will form a part ; which, by multiplying the 
means of rational and intellectual enjoymeui, will diminish 
the temptations of vice and sensuality ; which, in the social 
relations of life, and as connected with objects of legislation, 
will teach them the identity of the individual with the gen- 
eral interest ; that which, in the physical sciences — espe- 
cially those of Chemistry and Mechanics — will make them 
masters of the secrets of nature, and give them powers 
which even now tend to elevate the moderns to a hiofher 



I wish to see our people distinguished by their good man- 
ners, not so much for the sake of those manners, as because they 
indicate more than tliey show, and they tend powerfully to nourish 
and protect the growth of the virtues which they indicate. What 
are they, indeed, when rightly considered, but the silent though ac- 
tive expression of Christian feelings and dispositions 1 The gentle- 
ness, the tenderness, the delicacy, the patience, the forbearance, the 
fear of giving pain, the repression of all angry and resentful feelings, 
the respect and consideration due to a fellow-man, and which every 
one should be ready to pay and expect to receive — what is all this 
but the very spirit of courtesy 1 What is it but the very spirit of 
Christianity 1 And what is there in this that is not equally an or- 
nament to the palace and the cottage, to the nobleman and the 
peasant r' 



3« THE SCHOOL AND 

rank than that of the demigods of antiquity. All this, and 
more, should be embraced in that scheme of education 
which would be worthy of statesmen to give, and of a great 
nation to receive ; and the time is near at hand when the 
attainment of an object thus comprehensive in its character, 
and leading to results, the practical benefits of which it is 
almost impossible for even the imagination to exaggerate, 
will not be considered a Utopian dream."* 



SECTION II. 

PREVAILING ERRORS IN REGARD TO THE NATURE AND END 
OF EDUCATION. 

" Locke was not like the pfedants of his ov/n or other ages, who 
think that to pour their wordy book-learning ipto the memory is the 
true discipline of cliildhood." — Hallam. 

If the sk,etch which we have thus drawn of the nature 
and ends of .education be correct, it must be evident that it 
is a subject in regard to which great misconception pre- 
vails. We apprehend, indeed, that hardly one cause so 
much contributes to maintain existing evils and imperfec- 
tions in our educational system as the prevalence of these 
misconceptions. " The improvement of education," says an- 
other, " will alone lead to its extension ;" and we add, that a 
clearer comprehension of its nature will alone lead to its 
improvement. Changes may be multiplied, but they will 
rarely prove to be improvements, unless they proceed on a 
clear and definite understanding of the end to be attained. 
Means are wisely chosen only when they are precisely 
adapted to the object sought, and they are thus adapted, 
only when that object stands out clearly and boldly before 
the mind. Let us, then, look at some of these prevailing 
misconceptions. 

* Westminster Review. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 29 

By many, education is regarded simply as the means 
of communicating to the young certain mechanical accom- 
plishments, which, in the progress of society, have become 
essential to our comfort and success. Thus, in the opinion 
of one, a child is educated when he can read, -write, and 
cipher.* To these, others Avould add certain higher scho- 
lastic attainments, more or less in number ; and a third party 
hold no child to be educated, unless to Avhat they term 

* The influence of this misconception on the state of popular in- 
struction in England is thus noticed by a late writer : " In the num- 
ber of schools and of pupils, our account, on the whole, is extremely 
satisfactory. AVhere, then, do we fail 1 Not in the schools, but in 
the instruction that is given there : a great proportion of the poorer 
children attend only the Sunday-schools, and the education of once 
a week is not very valuable ; but generally, throughout the primary 
schools, nothing is taught but a little spelling, a very little reading, 
still less writing, the Catechism, the Lord's Prayer, and an unex- 
plained, unelucidated chapter or two in the Bible ; add to these the 
nasal mastery of a hymn, and an undecided conquest over the rule 
of Addition, and you behold a very finished education for the poor. 
The schoohnaster and the schoolmistress, in these academies, know 
little themselves beyond the bald and meager knowledge that they 
teach, and are much more fit to go to school tlian to give instruc- 
lions. Now the object of education is to make a reflective, moral, 
prudent, loyal, and healthy people. A little reading and writing of 
themselves contribute very doubtfully to that end. Ju.st hear what 
Mr. Hickson, a most in>. Uigent witness (in his evidence on the 
Poor Laws), says on this head : 

" ' Query. Are you of opinion that an eflicient system of national 
education would materially improve the condition of the labouring 
classes I 

" ' Answer. Undoubtedly ; but I must beg leave to observe, that 
something more than mere teaching to read and write is necessary 
for the poorer classes. Where books and newspapers are inaccess- 
ible or not used, the knowledge of the art of reading avails nothing. 
I have met with adults who, after having been taught to read and 
write when young, have almost entirely forgotten those arts for 
want of opportunities to exercise them.' " — England and the English, 
vol. i., p. 186. 

C2 



30 THE SCHOOL AND 

" school learning" is added some trade or employment by 
which he can make a living. The great and all-impor- 
tant fact that a child has powers and sentiments which pre- 
destine him to advance forever in knowledge and virtue, but 
powers which will be stifled or perverted in their very in- 
fancy without proper culture — this fact is overlooked. It is 
not considered that he has a moral and intellectual charac- 
ter to be formed, and that this character will never reach 
the required excellence, unless wise principles are instilled, 
and good habits formed. 

A child leaves school without having contracted either a 
desire for knowledge, or a love of good books. He knows 
as little of his own frame, of the laws of his intellectual and 
moral nature, of the constitution of the material world, and 
of the past history of his country and race, as if on these 
subjects books were silent — and yet he is said to he educa- 
ted ! What is stiU more important, he has been subjected 
to no early, constant, and efficient training of his disposi- 
tion, manners, judgment, and habits of thought and conduct. 
The sentiments held to be appropriate to the adult have not 
been imbibed with the milk of infancy, and iterated and re- 
iterated through the whole of subsequent childhood and 
youth ; the manners considered becoming in men and wom- 
en have not been sedulously imparted in early years ; nor 
have the habits regarded as conducive to individual advance- 
ment, social happiness, and national prosperity, been cidti- 
vated with the utmost diligence ; and yet — the child is said 
to be educated ! He knows little, and yet he imagines that 
he knows all or enough ! 

" Well !" exclaimed a young lady just returned from 
school, " my education is at last finished ; indeed, it would 
be strange if, after five years' hard application, anything 
were left incomplete. Happily, that is all over now, and I 
have nothing to do but to exercise my various accomplish' 
ments. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER, ^i 

" Let me see ! as to French, I am mistress of that, and 
speak it, if possible, with more fluency than English. Ital- 
ian I can read with ease, and pronounce very well — as well, 
at least, and better, than any of my friends ; and that is all 
one need wish for in Italian. Music I have learned till I 
am perfectly sick of it ; but, now th^t we have a grand pi- 
ano, it will be delightful to play wlnm we have company. 
I must still continue to practise a little ; the only tiling, I 
think, that I need now improve myself in. And then there 
are my Italian songs ! which everybody allows I sing with 
taste ; and as it is what so few people can pretend to, I am 
particularly glad that I can. 

" My drawings are universally admired, especially the 
shells and flowers, which are beautiful, certainly ; besides 
this, I have a decided taste in all kinds of fancy ornaments. 

" And then my dancing and waltzing ! in which our mas- 
ter himself owned that he could take me no farther ! just 
the figure for it, certainly ; it would be unpardonable if I 
did not excel, 

" As to common things, Geography, and History, and Po- 
etry, and Philosophy, thank my stars, I have got through 
them all ! so that I may consider myself not only perfectly 
accomplished, but also thoroughly well-informed. 

" Well, to be sure ! how much I have fagged through ; 
the only wonder is, that one head can contain it all." 

With this picture — a picture but too just of most of the 
subjects, not only of Avhat is called a fine education, but of 
education of every degTee — the lively writer* contrasts the 
revery of " a silver-headed sage," who, after passing in re- 
view all his profound attainments in science and letters, 
and comparing them with the vast field still unexplored, ex- 
claims, " Alas ! how narrow is the utmost extent of human 
knowledge ! how circumscribed the sphere of intellectual 

* .lane Taylor. 



32 THE SCHOOL AND 

exertion! What folly in man to glory in his contracted 
powers, or to value himself upon his imperfect acquisi- 
tions." 

Akin to the error just noticed is another, which makes 
education consist in acquiring knowledge. That no educa- 
tion is complete or sufficient which leaves the subject of it in 
ignorance is plain ; and there is a certain amount of knowl- 
edge which, as it seems absolutely needful to man's highest 
welfare, and is, moreover, within the reach of all, so should 
it be considered as an indispensable part of the education 
of the whole people. Such in addition to reading, writing, 
and arithmetic, and a proper knowledge of the Scriptures, 
is an acquaintance with the criminal laws of the goverh- 
ment under which we live, with general geography and his- 
tory, and, to some extent, with our own physical, intellectual, 
and moral constitution. The grand error is, that that is 
called knowledge, which is mere rote-learning and word- 
mongery. The child is said to be educated, because it can 
repeat the text of this one's grammar, and of that one's ge- 
ography and history ; because a certain number of facts, 
often without connexion or dependance, have, for the time be- 
ing, been deposited in its memory, though they have never 
been wrought at all into the understanding, nor have awa- 
kened, in truth, one effort of the higher faculties. The soil 
of the mind is left, by such culture, nearly as untouched, and 
as little likely, therefore, to yield back valuable fruit, as if 
these same facts had been committed to memory, in an un- 
known tongue. It is, as if the husbandman were to go forth 
and sow his seed by the way-side, or on the surface of a 
field which has been trodden down by the hoofs of innu- 
merable horses, and then, when the cry of harvest home is 
heard about him, expect to reap as abundant returns as the 
most provident and industrious of his neighbours. He for- 
gets that the same irreversible law holds in mental as in 



THE SCHOOLMASTER, 33 

materia/ husbandry : Whatever a man soweth, that shall he 
also reap. 

The first duty of the teacher, whether he be a parent, or 
hired instructer, is to enrich and turn up the soil* of the 
mind, and thus quicken its productive energies. Awaken a 
child's facuhies ; give him worthy objects on which to exer- 
cise them ; invest him with proper control over them, and 
let liim have tasted often the pleasure of employing them in 
the acquisition of truth, and he will gain knowledge for him- 
self. Yet it is worthy of remark, that this cannot be done 
effectually and thoroughly, without imparting, at the same 
time, much loiOAvledge. It is in the act of apprehending 
truth, of perceiving the evidence on which it rests, of tra- 
cing out its relations to, and dependance on other truths, 
and then of applying it to the explanation of phenomena 
and events — it is by such means that we excite, invigorate, 
and discipline the faculties. It has been much disputed, 
whether it be the primary object of education, to discipline 
and develop the powers of the soul, or to communicate 
knowledge. Were these two objects distinct and independ- 
ent, it is not to be questioned, that the first is unspeakably 
more important than the second. But, in truth, they are in- 
separable. That training which best disciplines and un- 
folds the faculties will, at the same time, impart the great- 
est amount of real and effective knowledge ; while, on the 
other hand, that which imparts thoroughly, and for perma- 
nent use and possession, the greatest amount of knowledge, 
will best develop, strengthen, and refine the powers. In 
proportion, however, as intellectual vigour and activity are 
more important than mere rote-learning, in the same pro- 
portion ought we to attach more value to an education 

* Berkeley, in one of his queries, asks, "Whether the mind, like 
the soil, does not by disuse grow stiff, and whether reasoning and 
study be not like dividing the glebe." — Querist, p. 140. 



34 THE SCHOOL AND 

which, though it only teaches a child to read, has, in doing 
so, taught him also to thlnk, than we should to one which, 
though it may have bestowed on him the husks and shells 
of half a dozen of the sciences, has never taught him to use 
with pleasure and effect his reflective faculties.* He who 
can think, and loves to think, will become, if he has a few 
good books, a wise man. He who knows not how to think, 
or who hates the toil of doing it, will remain imbecile, 
though his mind be crowded with the contents of a library. 
This is, at present, perhaps the greatest fault in intellect- 
ual education. The new power, with Avhich the scientific 
discoveries of the last three centuries have clothed civilized 
man, renders knowledge an object of unbounded respect 
and desire ; while it is forgotten, that that knowledge can 
be mastered and appropriated only by the vigorous exercise 
and application of all our intellectual faculties. If the mind 
of a child, when learning, remains nearly passive — merely 
receiving knowledge as a vessel receives water which is 
poured into it — ^little good can be expected to accrue. It is 
as if food were introduced into the stomach which there is 
no power to digest or assimilate, and which -will therefore 
be rejected from the system, or lie a useless and oppressive 
load upon its energies. 

* " At the first," says Erasmus, " it is no great matter how much 
you learn, but how well you learn iV-^CoUoquies, p. 607. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 35 



SECTION in. 

THE SAME S'UBJECT CONTINUED. 

" The exaltation of talent, as it is called, above virtue and re- 
liigion, is the curse of the age. Education is now chiefly a stimulus 
to learning, and thus men acquire power without the principles 
whicli alone make it a good. Talent is worshipped ; but if divorced 
from rectitude, it will prove more of a demon than a god." — Chan- 

NING. 

Another and not less pernicious error, is to mistake for 
education a ■partial, narrow culture, which operates on but a 
part of the mind. In some instances, the moral nature is 
addressed, to the exclusion or neglect of the intellectual ; 
but much more frequently, the intellectual powers are fos- 
tered, to the grievous neglect of the spiritual and moral. 
The child is dealt with, not only as though these two class- 
es of powers were separate and independent of each other, 
which is a great mistake, but as if one class could be safe- 
ly roused and enlisted in action, while the other remains 
dormant. 

Undel' the reign »jf the scholastic philosophy, a discipline 
which developed the reasoning faculty and cultivated the 
study of th(iology, took sole possession of places dedicated 
to education. In our own age, we have passed to the op- 
posite extr(!me. Unbounded pains are now taken, to en- 
lighten a child in the first principles of science and letters, 
and also in regard to the business of life. At a time, too, 
when an intellectual has been substituted for a physical su- 
premacy, and results are produced almost entirely by talent 
and address, it is thought an object of vast consequence, to 
develop mental energy and activity. In the mean time, 
the culture of the heart and conscience is often sadly neg- 
lected ; and the child grows up a shrewd, intelligent, and 
influential man, perhaps, but yet a slave to liis lower pro- 



36 THE SCHOOL AND 

pensities. Talent and knowledge are rarely blessings ei- 
ther to their possessor or to the world, unless they are pla- 
ced under the control of the higher sentiments and prirtciples 
of our nature. Better that men should remain in ignorance, 
than that they should eat of the fruit of the tree of loiowl- 
edge, only to be made more subtle and powerful adversaries 
of God and of humanity.* 

In this respect, " much," to borrow the language of Dr. 
Morrison, " may be learned from the Chinese. They not 
only make education universal, but they place that which 
is moral above that which is physical." With a system of 
philosophy, and religious faith, which is eminently deficient 
in large and comprehensive views, they still succeed, to a de- 
gree, perhaps, unparalleled in the history of the world, in 
inculcating certain social and political duties. The great 
object of their policy, is to maintain industry, subordination, 
and social order ; and their chief instrument for attaining 
this object, is the training of the young, as distinguished 
from mere instruction. With us, the latter is the chief part 
of education ; with them, the former. We, too, talk much 
to the young of their " rights ;" the Chinese dwell princi- 
pally, and, we may add, only, on their duties. They rely on 
the " habitual and universal inculcation of obedience and 
deference, in unbroken series, from one end of society to 
the other ; beginning in the relation of children to their pa- 
rents, continuing through that of the young to the aged, of 

* " In the Celestial Hierarchy," says a late writer, " according 
to Dionysius Areopagita, the Angels of Love hold the first place, 
the Angels of Light the second, and Thrones and Dominations the 
third. Among Terrestrials, the intellects which act through the 
imagination upon the heart may be accounted the first in order, the 
merely scientific intellects the second, and the merely ruling intel- 
lects — those which apply themselves to mankind without the aid 
of either science or imagination — will not be disparaged ilthey are 
placed last." 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 37 

the uneducated to the educated, and terminating in that of 
the peopl3 to their rulers."* 

This topic occupies the whole of the first four books of Con- 
fucius ; and twice in every moon, sixteen discourses of one ol 
their wisest and most virtuous monarchs, which treat of these 
and kindred social duties, are read to the whole Empire. ■} 
The results of such precepts constantly repeated — to which 
conformity is rigidly exacted, and which are enforced by 
the examples of parents, instructors, and all classes of citi- 
zens — may be foreseen. " They are apparent," says Davis, 
" on the very face of the most cheerfully industrious and 
orderly, and the most wealthy nation of Asia." The peo- 
ple are contented ; there is little abject poverty ; age is rev- 
erenced more than wealth ; and the subjects are devoted, 

* See Davis's China, chap. vi. 

\ The texts of these discourses will illustrate the spirit of Chi- 
nese economy and education. "1. Be strenuous in filial piety and 
paternal respect, that you may thus duly perform the social duties. 
3. Be firmly attached to your kindred and parentage, that your 
union and concord may be conspicuous. 3. Agree with your coun- 
trymen and neighbours, in order that disputes and litigation may be 
prevented. 4. Attend to your farms and mulberry-trees, that you 
may have sufficient food and clothing. 5. Observe moderation and 
economy, that your property may not be wasted. 6. Extend your 
schools of instruction, that learning may be duly cultivated. 7. Re- 
ject all false doctrines, in order that you may duly honour true learn- 
mg. 8. Declare the laws and their penalties, for a warning to the 
foolish and ignorant. 9. Let humility and propriety of behaviour be 
duly manifested, for the preservation of good habits and laudable 
customs. 10. Attend each to your proper employments, that the 
people may be fixed in their purposes. 11. Attend to the education 
of youth, in order to guard them from doing evil. 12. Abstain from 
false accusing, that the good and honest may be in safety. 13. Ab- 
stain from the concealment of deserters, that others be not involved 
in their guilt. 14. Duly pay your taxes and customs, to spare the 
necessity of enforcing them. 15. Let the tithings and hundreds 
unite for the suppression of thieves and robbers. 16. Reconcile 
animosities, that your lives be not lightly hazarded." 
D 



38 THE SCHOOL AND 

with a loyalty the most ardent and inflexible, to their gov- 
ernment. If all this can be accomplished under a system 
so imperfect, merely by the use of wise means, what might 
not be expected in a free, enlightened, and Christian land, 
if we would but give to moral education its proper promi- 
nence, and substitute thorough training for mere instruc 
tion? 

This error of postponing moral to intellectual culture has, 
like all other errors, engendered its opposite. Perceiving 
its danger and deploring its prevalence, good and thought- 
ful men are led, in some cases, to doubt altogether the ex- 
pediency of educating the people ; in others, they maintain, 
in their zeal for religious education, that that alone is ne- 
cessary or desirable. It must be remembered, however, 
tliat a moral and religious culture which does not awaken 
and develop the faculties of the understanding, and build 
itself upon clear and rational convictions, can have little 
value. It will neither regidate the life, nor sustain the for- 
titude and confidence of the believer. The powers of 
thought must be so far unfolded and strengthened, that the 
mind can seize upon truths and moral motives, and hold 
them with a steady, unyielding grasp, before moral or reli- 
gious lessons can make a deep and lasting impression. 
" It is the same spirit and principle," says South, " that pu- 
rifies the heart and clarifies the understanding;" and we 
have no more right to suppose that the heart can be en- 
lightened while the understanding is left in darkness, than 
we have to suppose that the intellectual part of man can be 
healthy while his moral nature is unsound. So long as the 
heart is neglected, passions and prejudices will gather be- 
fore the intellectual eye, and darken or distort all its per- 
ceptions of truth. On the other hand, a torpid and imen- 
lightened intellect reduces religious faith to a mere blind 
assent, which makes no distinction between the substance 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 



59 



and accidents of truth, and substitutes its tithe of mint, 
anise, and cummin for the weightier matters of the law.* 

That the great truths of Christianity, when properly 
taught, form one of the best means of rousing and impro- 
Tuig the intellect, is a delightful fact. But in connexion 
with this fact, we cannot be reminded, too often, that what is 
called religious education, frequently fails in this respect ; 
that too much faith is apt to be reposed in the mere name 
and form of it, when the spirit is wanting ; and hence that 
hopes are excited by the bare circumstance that children 
are in attendance at a Sunday-school, or are members of a 
Bible or catechetical class, or by the fact that the Bible and 

* Confirmations of this truth may be found in every neighbour- 
hood. A rcmaitable one has been afforded recently by the peasant- 
ry in the county of Kent (Eng.). An impostor appeared among them 
in 1838, named Thoms, who, with no other advantages than a hand- 
some person and a slender education, succeeded in persuading great 
numbers to receive him, first, as Baron Rothschild ; then as the 
Earl of Devon ; afterward as King of Jerusalem ; and, finally, after 
one or two other transformations, as the Saviour of mankind. He 
gave them the sacrament, anointed hunself and them with oil, and 
inspired them Avith the belief that no bullet could touch them. This 
was not only in a beautiful country in which there was no hostility 
to the poor laws, and where the peasantry had good wages and were 
lightly taxed, but it was under tlte very spires of the Canterbury 
Cathedral, and amid a population accustomed to go to church, pos- 
sessing hardly any but religious books, and of whom a majority had, 
in their youth, gone to Sunday-schools. These facts show that re- 
ligious instruction will be powerless in most cases, unless the mind 
has been developed by general culture. Truth must not only be 
presented to the mind ; there must be capacity to apprehend and 
disposition to act upon it. In the case just referred to, the Bible or 
Testament, the Catechism, and a few religious tracts, were the only 
books known in the houses or used in the schools. The conse- 
quence had been, that these were read without interest or intelli- 
gence, and children who could read in the Testament with fluency, 
instantly began to spell and hesitate when desired to read out of 
another book. 



40 THE SCHOOL AND 

Other religious books are used in schools, which hopes 
prove, in the end, to be utterly fallacious. No plan of edu- 
cation is entitled to confidence, because none is founded 
upon a just view of the nature and wants of man, which 
does not recognise the importance of both intellectual and 
moral culture, and which does not cultivate a taste for ev- 
eiy branch of liberal and useful knowledge. 

I cannot dismiss the subject of moral education, without 
adverting to the great insensibility which seems to prevail 
among us, in regard to the power of example. What meets 
the eye, always sinks deeper into the mind than what only 
falls upon the ear. This is peculiarly the case with moral 
instructions. When imbodiedin action, and illustrated and 
adorned by the daily life of a parent, teacher,^r friend, they 
become surpassingly impressive and attractive. On the 
other hand, when our precepts are glaringly contradicted by 
our practice, they are worse than useless. " Parents," says 
Palejr, and the remark may be extended to teachers, " pa- 
rents, to do them justice, are seldom sparing in lessons of 
virtue and religion ; in admonitions which cost little, and 
profit less ; while their example exhibits a continual contra- 
diction of what they teach. A father, for instance, will, 
with much solemnity and apparent earnestness, warn his 
son against idleness and extravagance, who himself loiters 
about all day without employment, and wastes the fortune, 
which should support or remain a provision for his family, 
in riot, or luxury, or ostentation. Or he will discourse 
gravely before his children of the obligation and importance 
of revealed religion, while they see the most frivolous and 
oftentimes feigned excuses detain him from its reasonable 
and solemn ordinances. Or he will set before them, per- 
haps, the supreme and tremendous authority of Almighty 
God ; that such a being ought not to be named, or even 
thought upon, without sentiments of profound awe and ven- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 41 

eration. This may be the lecture he delivers to his family 
one hour ; when the next, if an occasion arise to excite his 
anger, his mirth, or his surprise, they will hear him treat 
the name of the Deity with the most irreverent profanation, 
and sport with the terms and denimciations of the Christian 
religion, as if they were the language of some ridiculous 
ajid long exploded superstition. Now even a child is not 
to be imposed upon by such mockeiy. He sees through 
the grimace of this counterfeited concern for virtue. He 
discovers that his parent is acting a part ; and receives his 
admonitions as he would hear the same maxims from the 
mouth of a player. And when once this opinion has taken 
possession of the child's mind, it has a fatal effect upon the 
parent's influence in all subjects, even those in which he 
himself may be sincere and convinced. Whereas a silent, 
but observ^able regard to the duties of religion, in the pa- 
rent's own behaviour, will take a sure and gradual hold of 
the child's disposition, much beyond fonnal reproofs and 
chidings, which, being generally prompted by some present 
provocations, discover more of anger than of principle, and 
are always received with a temporary alienation and dis- 
gust."* 

Another, and, at present, much neglected branch of edu- 
cation, is the culture of taste and imagination. These are 
leading principles of the human mind, which must always 
exert great influence over its operations and its welfare. If 
duly cultivated, they aid and quicken the understanding, ex- 
alt the aspirations of the heart, and lend grace and dignity 
to manners. Truth is never more readily apprehended, nor 
does it ever lay stronger hold upon the memory and affec- 
tions, than when illustrated and embellished by fancy. 
High purposes to honour God and benefit man, are by 
none conceived Avith so much force, nor by any maintained 
with such indomitable firmness, as by those whose imagina* 
* Paley's Moral Philosophy, b. iii., pt. iii., chap. ix. 
D2 



42 THE SCHOOL AND 

tions bring tlie far distant future near, and transform possi' 
ble into actual achievements. To children, the creations of 
fancy or imagination are a principal source, both of pleasure 
and of activity. In youth, they inspire ardour and gener- 
osity of purpose ; and through life, men are stimulated to 
exertion by the promises with which they clothe the future, 
and by that irrepressible yearning after a higher excellence 
to Avhich they give birth. 

It must be evident, then, to every one, that much of our 
happiness and dignity will depend on the direction given to 
these faculties by culture. If allied to Adrtue, and placed 
under the guidance of reason, they must become fruitful 
sources of enjoyment, and contribute most efficiently to our 
intellectual and moral progress ; whereas they must become 
equally efficient in inducing wretchedness and corruption, 
when they usurp the place which belongs to reason, and 
fonn an alliance with our vicious or malevolent feelings. 

One of the means of securing to these faculties a healthy 
and perfect development, is to employ them in aid of intel- 
lectual education. In selecting text-books for the young, 
as well as books for ordinary reading," always prefer those 
which portray truth with vivid and rich illustrations, and 
which conform, in style and method, to the rules of good 
taste. 

Another and most important means of cultivating imagi- 
nation and taste is found in the study of the fine arts, inclu- 
ding poetry and eloquence. In contemplating the works of 
a great master in any art, we substitute regular effijrts of 
imagination, for those wild and eccentric movements, to 
which it is so prone, and by this means we gradually gain 
control over it. Instead of surrendering our minds to its 
capricious guidance, and wasting on dreams the time which 
ought to be given to duty or improvement, we leam to sub- 
ordinate it to specific ends and uses. In this way, too, our 
conceptions of beauty and sublimity are enlarged and per- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 43 

fected. If careful to study none but works conceived in the 
spirit of truth and virtue, our hearts are made better ; taste 
is refined ; the soul learns to breathe freely in an atmo- 
sphere above the world, and yet not so remote, but it can 
icturn refreshed and invigorated, to meet the claims of life. 
An mnocent and elegant resource is also provided against 
seasons of leisure and recreation. We close the avenues 
tlirough which many gross temptations assail the heart, and 
remedy, in part, the disproportioned development of our 
powers which is occasioned by our profession, or by the 
spirit of the age. 

In our age, there is special occasion for tliis kind of cul- 
ture. The social condition of most civilized nations is such 
that intelligence and activity are awakened to a degree un- 
paralleled in history ; but they have been hitherto, directed, 
too exclusively, to material or political interests. Imagina- 
tion is too much employed on dreams of a golden prosperity 
for the individual, or on visions of a national greatness 
which is to be the wonder of the world. Everything is apt 
to be measured by the standard of palpable utility, and 
whatever does not tend to swell the credit side of the bal- 
ance sheet, or to add to reputation and influence, is held of 
little account. The essential dignity of the mind — its inde- 
pendence on the outward world — these are lost sight of; 
while we regard ourselves too much as ciphers without in- 
trinsic value, and dependant for our consideration and im- 
portance on position, or property ; on connexion with the 
state, or on relation to a party. Might not the cultivation of 
the arts contribute to recall us to a sense of our proper 
worth ? 

By affording to imagination a more tranquil and elevating 
employment, might it not serve, also, to allay, in some de- 
gree, the excessive fervour of our activity, and thereby ren- 
der us more contented and happy ? 

And by promoting a more delicate and refined taste, 



44 THE SCHOOL AND 

would it not be likely to lessen the rage for display which 
is the vice of the times, and contribute to substitute grace 
of manners for vulgar pretension — the chaste embellish- 
ments of art, for extravagance and ostentation in dress and 
furniture 1 

We shall learn, moreover, in this way, that there is a 
utility which does not admit of being estimated by material 
standards ; that, though the arts called useful minister to 
wants more urgent and obvious than those supplied by the 
fine arts, the latter are equally real ; and that the civili- 
zation of any people may be estimated by the degree of im- 
portance which is ascribed to one of them as compared 
with the other. 

And, finally, we may hope that, by recalling men to a 
clearer consciousness of their inward powers and capaci- 
ties, the culture of these arts will serve, in some degree, to 
arm them against the encroachments of society, and to save 
them from a moral and spiritual bondage, which is worse, 
than any political servitude. 

I will advert to but one other branch of education before 
closing this subject. This is physical culture ; the great 
importance of which seems to have been much more thor- 
oughly appreciated by the ancients than it is by us. Edu- 
cation was by them reduced to four heads : grammar, mu- 
sic, drawing, and gymnastics ; the object of the last being, 
according to Aristotle, to invigorate the body and fortify the 
mind. It was a settled principle with them, that moral ed- 
ucation ought to precede the intellectual, and that the cul- 
ture of the body ought to precede that of the mind. " Until 
children have completed their fifth year," says Aristotle, 
•' no painful task should be imposed and no violent exertion 
required from the mind or body, lest health might be in- 
jured and growth obstructed. All that utility demands is to 
keep the faculties awake and to prevent them from con- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 45- 

trading any habits of sloth ; which will be best eiTected by- 
such plays and sports as are neither illiberal, nor fatiguing, 
nor sedentary." He adds, in another passage, " Before the 
eighth year the school for children ought to be the father's 
house ; but during this early period they must be strictly 
guarded against the infectious communication of servants 
no illiberal gesture is to be presented to their sight ; no il 
liberal image is to be suggested to their fancy. Lewd in 
decency of language ought to be reprobated in every well- 
regulated city ; for, from using filthy expressions without 
shame, there is an easy transition to the practising of filthy 
actions without disgust."* And again : " Till the age of 
puberty the lighter gymnastic exercises only should be en- 
joined and practised ; athletic exertions and a forced regi- 
men ought to be proscribed and prohibited ; for such arti- 
ficial violence would mar the work of nature, disfigure the 

* There can be no doubt that the neglect of physical, as connected 
with moral culture, is often the cause of insamty. Says one of the 
ablest physicians who has devoted himself to the treatment of this 
fearful malady, " A defective and faulty education, through the pe- 
riod of infancy and childhood, may perhaps be found to be the most 
prolific cause of insanity ; by this, in many, a predisposition is pro- 
duced, in others it is excited, and renders incontrollable the animal 
propensities of our nature. Appetites indulged and perverted, pas- 
sion unrestrained, and propensities rendered vigorous by indulgence 
and subjected to no salutary restraint, bring us into a condition in 
which both moral and physical causes easily operate to produce in- 
sanity, if they do not produce it themselves." He adds in another 
report, ■• The first principles of physical education, which teach us 
how to avoid disease, are all-important to all liable to insanity from 
hereditary predisposition. The physical health must be attended to, 
and the training of the faculties of the mind be such as to counter- 
act the active propensities of our nature, correct the disposition ot 
the mind to wrong currents and too great activity, by bringing into 
action the antagonizing powers. Neglect of this early training en- 
tails evils upon the young which are felt in all after life." — See Dr. 
S. B. Woodward's Seventh and Eighth Reports as Superintendent of 
the State Lunatic Asylum {Mass.). 



46 THE SCHOOL AND 

shape, impede the growth, and forever preA^ent the attain- 
ment of manly strength. During the three years immedi- 
ately following puberty, the application of youth should be 
directed to those branches of education which form and in- 
vigorate the mind. They will then, at the age of seven- 
teen, be capable of submitting to a regulated diet, and of 
sustaining the fatigue of athletic exercises."* 

This system of physical training was not, with the an- 
cients, a mere theory. It was rigidly observed, and the re- 
sult was seen in the vigour of their health, and the grace- 
fulness of their carriage. The moderns have made many 
discoveries in regard to the laws of life and health ; but 
these laws are strangely neglected when we come to prac- 
tical education. To borrow the words of Spurzheim, " Many 
parents are anxious to cultivate the mind, though at the ex- 
pense of the body. They think they cannot instruct their 
offspring early enough to read and to write, while their 
bodily constitution and health are overlooked." Children 
are shut up, forced to sit quiet, and to breathe a confined 
air. This error is the greater, the more delicate the chil- 
dren and the more premature their mental powers are. 
The bodily powers of such children are sooner exhausted ; 
they suffer from dyspepsy, headache, and a host of nervous 
complaints ; their brain is liable to inflammation and serous 
effusion ; and a premature death is frequently a consequence 
of such a violation of nature. It is, indeed, to be lamented 
that the influence of the physical on the moral part of man 
is not sufficiently understood. There are parents who will 
pay masters very dearly, in hope of giving excellence to 
their children, but who will hesitate to spend the tenth part 
to procure them bodily health. Some, by an absmd infatu- 
ation, take their own constitutions as a measure of those of 
their children, and because they themselves, in advanced 
life, can support confinement and intense application with 
* Aristotle's Politics, book v. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 47 

little injury to health, they conclude that their young and 
delicate children can do the same. Such notions are alto- 
gether erroneous ; bodily deformities, curved spines, and un- 
fitness for various occupations, and the fulfilment of future du- 
ties, frequently result from such misunderstood mismanage- 
ment of children. The advantages of a sound body are in- 
calculable for the individuals themselves, their friends, and 
their posterity. Body and mind ought to be cultivated in 
harmony, and neither of them at the expense of the other. 
Health should be the basis, and instruction the ornament of 
early education. The development of the body will assist 
the manifestations of the mind, and a good mental education 
will contribute to bodily health. 

" Young geniuses often descend, at a later age, into the 
class of common men. Indeed, experience shows, that 
among children of almost equal dispositions, those who are 
brought up Avithout particular care, and begin to read and 
write when their bodily constitution has acquired some so- 
lidity, soon overtake those who are dragged early to their 
spelling-books at the detriment of their bodily frame. No 
school education, strictly speaking, ought to begin before 
seven years of age. We shall, however, see, in a follow- 
ing chapter on the laws of exercise, that many ideas and 
notions may be communicated to children by other means 
than books, or by keeping them quiet on benches. When 
education shall become practical and applicable to the fu- 
ture destination of individuals, children will be less plagued 
with nothings, but they will be made answerable not only 
for their natural gifts of intellect, but also for the just em- 
ployment of their moral powers and the preservation and 
cultivation of their bodily constitution, since vigour in it is 
indispensable to enjoyment and usefulness. They will be 
made acquainted with the natural laws of nutrition and all 
vital functions, and with their influence on health."* 

* Spurzheim on Education, p. 80. 



48 THE SCHOOL AND 

I have thus insisted on the necessity of a comprehensiifi 
culture which aims at the education of the whole man. It 
is a subject which claims, at this time, particular attention. 
The causes which operate on the formation of human char- 
acter are extremely numerous and diversified, and studies 
whicn, in the estimation of many, are useless or of trifling 
importance, may still be essential to a perfect development 
of our powers and susceptibilities.* This truth, and the 
consequent responsibility which rests on all classes of citi- 
zens in regard to education, is forcibly illustrated in the fol- 
lowing passage from a sermon of Dr. Ramsden, formerly 
assistant Professor of Divinity at Cambridge (Eng.). He 
is showing the tendency of all knowledge to form the heart 
of a nation. 

" We will venture to say how, in the mercy of God to 
man, this heart comes to a nation, and how its exercise or 
affection appears. It comes by priests, by lawyers, by 
philosophers, by schools, by education, by the nurse's care, 
the .mother's anxiety, the father's severe brow. It comes 
by letters, by silence, by every art, by sculpture, painting, 
and poetry ; by the song on war, on peace, on domestic vir- 
tue, on a beloved and magnanimous king ; by the Iliad, by 
the Odyssey, by tragedy, by comedy. It comes by sympa- 
thy, by love, by the marriage union, by friendship, generos- 
ity, meekness, temperance ; by virtue and example of vir- 
tue. It comes by sentiments of chivalry, by romance, by 
music, by decorations and magnificence of buildings ; by 
the culture of the body, by comfortable clothing, by fash- 
ions in dress, by luxury and commerce. It comes by the 

* Bishop Berkeley asks, " Wliether an early habit of reflection, 
though obtained by speculative sciences, may not have its use in prac- 
tical affairs.'^ Also, "Whether those parts of learning which are 
forgotten may not have improved and enriched the soil, like those 
vegetables which are raised, not for themselves, but are ploughed 
in <br a dressing of the land." — See Querist, p 140. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 49 

severity, the melancholy, the benignity of countenance ; by 
rules of politeness, ceremonies, formalities, solemnities. It 
comes by rights attendant on law, by religion, by the oath 
of office, by the venerable assembly, by the judge's proces- 
sion and trumpets, by the disgrace and punishment of 
crimes, by public fasts, public prayer, by meditation, by the 
Bible, by the consecration of churches, by the sacred festi- 
val, by the cathedral's gloom and choir. Whence the heart 
of a nation comes, we have, perhaps, sufficiently explained. 
And it must appear to what most awful obligation and duty 
we hold all those from whom this heart takes its nature 
and shape — our king, our princes, our nobles, all who 
wear the badge of office or honour, all priests, judges, sen- 
ators, pleaders, interpreters of law, ail instructors of youth, 
all seminaries of education, all parents, all learned men, all 
professors of science and art, all teachers of manners. 
Upon them depends the fashion of the nation's heart. By 
them it is to be chastised, refined, and purified. By them 
is the state to lose the character and title of the beasts of 
prey. By them are the iron scales to fall, and a skin of 
youth, beauty, freshness, and polish to come upon it. By 
them it is to be made so tame and gentle, as that a child 
may lead it." 

£ 



50 THE SCHOOL ANI> 



SECTION IV. 
SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED. 

" A skilful master, who has a child placed under his care, must 
begin by sounding well the character of his genius and natural 
parts." — QuiNTiLiAN. 

Another fault in prevailing systems of education is, that 
they do not sufficiently adapt themselves to the different char- 
acters, capacities, and circumstances of children. We are 
far from holding, with some, that a free and imregulated 
development is all that is needed for a child ; and hence that 
the sole province of parents and teachers is to remove un- 
friendly influences, and leave him to himself. This was 
the theor)' of Rousseau, as expounded in his Emile ;* and 

* This may be regarded, says a late writer, as the principal work 
of Rousseau. It is a moral romance, which appeared in 1762, and 
treats chiefly of education. The plan of instruction which it incul- 
cates is to allow the youthful mind to unfold itself without restraint, 
and rather to protect it against bad impressions than to attempt to 
load it with positive instruction. Tiie objects of Nature are to be 
gradually presented to it. Necessity alone is to regulate and re- 
strain it, till reason, unfettered l)y prejudice and previous habits, is 
able to weave the drapery in which it is afterward to be swathed. 
The child of reason, thus thrown into a mass of human beings, ac- 
tuated by different motives, guided by different principles, and pur- 
suing different objects from itself, like a skilfully-constructed bark 
without its rudder, and stripped of its canvass and cordage, can have 
no other fote than that of being dashed against the cliffs or sunk be- 
neath the waves. In discussing the subject of religious education, 
he exhibited the same inconsistency and absurd views. The French 
savants were displeased with his glowing sentiments of piety, witii 
liis impassioned admiration of the morality of the Gospel and of thti 
character of its Founder ; while the friends of religion and social 
order were shocked with his attacks upon miracles and prophecy, 
V ith his insidious and open objections to Christianity, and with the 
ap^ilication of human reason to subjects beyond its sphere and above 
its power. The French parliament not only condemned the Emile 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 51 

how little faith he himself had in it, may be inferred from 
the answer, which he is said to have given, to a gentleman 
who introduced to him his son, whom he said he had edu- 
cated according to the principles of the Emile. " So much 
the worse," quickly replied Rousseau, " for you and your 
son too." 

It is by no means to be assumed that each child is an 
angel in disguise, and that those who have the care of him 
are to welcome, as a necessary part of liis being, every de- 
velopment which he may present of feeling and disposition. 
With much that requires regulating and directing, they will 
also find much in him, that needs to be repressed, with a 
stern hand. But does it follow, therefore, that we are to dis- 
regard the peculiarities of talent and temper in children, and 
subject them all to the same inflexible rule ? " Some," says 
Quintilian,* " are indolent unless spurred on, others cannot 
bear imperious treatment ; some are kept to their duty by 
fear, others are discouraged by it ; some need continual pains, 
others proceed by fits and starts." Are all these to be passed 
through precisely the same process, and reduced, if possible, 
to the same type and level ? Is it to be forgotten that the 
world is greatly benefited by the material diversities which 
appear among men in respect to character, capacity, and 
taste, and that no discipline is to be desired which would 
obliterate such diversities ? It must be evident, too, that 
such a discipline offers violence to nature, and, what is 
more to be lamented, that it fails altogether to reach some 
minds, while on others it inflicts incurable injury. 

In addition to this prevailing disregard of individual pecu- 
liarities, there is, perhaps, still greater inattention to peculi- 
arities of sex and condition in life. One cannot look at the 

but compelled Rousseau to retire precipitately from France, by com- 
mencing a criminal prosecution against hina. 
* Lib. i., cap. iii. 



52 THE SCHOOL AND 

female — with less muscular vigour and more nervous sen- 
sibility than the other sex ; with more timidity and gentle- 
ness ; with deeper affections and more aciite sensitiveness 
— without perceiving, that she has been appointed to a 
sphere very different from that of man. Her appropriate 
empire is over the family, where she not only lays the foimd- 
ation of society by laying the foundation, during childhood, 
of individual character, but where yhe ever exerts, through 
her acquaintance, and especially through her husband and 
children, a humanizing influence over the world. Her 
heart does not, like man's, become indurated or alloyed by 
intercourse with business, and by collision wdth sordid pas- 
sions. She retains, if properly educated, her generous and 
virtuous instincts in greater vigour, and continues more 
keenly alive to the wants and woes of suffering humanity. 
How salutary and powerful, then, is her ministry, when, in 
the sanctuary of home, she breathes gentleness and kindness 
into the sterner natures of the other sex ; when, in the spirit 
of a Roman, or, rather, of a Christian matron, she summons 
her husband, brothers, and sons, to do valiantly, and yet 
meekly, for God and the right. 

But, to fit her for such a noble ministry, she needs a 
training, quite different from that given to the other sex. Her 
delicacy and purity must remain untarnished. Her diffi- 
dence and even bashfulness, at once a grace and a protection, 
should be cherished as a peculiar treasure. She is to have 
all accomplishments which lend a charm to her person and 
manners ; but these must be held as insignificant, when 
compared with those which qualify her for the duties of a 
wife and mother, and which tend to inspire a taste for the 
privacy of domestic life, for its pleasmres and privileges. If 
she has no more urgent duties, her gi-aceful pen may well 
be employed in the service of truth and virtue ; and her 
presence and assiduities are always like sunshine in the 
dark abodes of poverty and sorrow, and even in the retreats 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 53 

of guilt and sliamc. But she cannot too studiously shim 
the gaze of the multitude. The strifes and tumults of the 
senate-house and the platform are too rude even for her 
eye to rest upon, much more for her voice to mingle in. 
Her chastity is her tower of strength, her modesty and gen- 
tleness are her charm, and her abiUty to meet the high 
claims of her family and dependants, the noblest power she 
can exhibit to the admiration of the world. 

Such being her destination, it is obvious that she requires 
a corresponding education. Instead of needing, as seems 
to have been the opinion of Locke and Fenelon,* but little 
intellectual culture, she should have a mind well disciplined, 
and stored with knowledge. She ought, also, to be thorough- 
ly versed in whatever belongs to domestic life and occupa- 
tions. She should have, on the one hand, such a taste for 
books and study, that she Avill never willingly remit the 
work of self-culture ; and, on the other, she should be so 
imbued with a sense of the dignity and responsibility of 
woman's mission in life, and so instructed in its duties, that 
she will always be ready for the humblest and most ardu- 
ous of its claims. Above all things, that feminine grace, 
which results from the possession of delicate feelings and 
gentle thoughts and manners, should be preserved, and she 
should be taught to skriide from noise and notoriety. 

♦ In his work on Female Education, entitled Sur I'Ediication des 
Filles, Fenelon has this passage : " Keep their minds as much as 
you can within the usual limits, and let them understand that the 
modesty of tiieir sex ought to shrink from science with almost as 
nmch delicacy as from vice." This doctrine is afterward somewhat 
qualified, and the treatise itself is full of wise suggestions in regard 
to the moral training of childhood, which were then new. It has 
been beautifully said of it by Hallam, that its author " May, perhaps, 
be considered the foimder of that school which has endeavoured to 
dissipate the terrors and dry the tears of childhood." 
E2 



54 THE SCHOOL AND 

That such trainhig is not as general as it ought to be, is 
but too e^ddent. Though destined, especially in this coun- 
try, to enter early on the duties of a wife and mother, she 
is rarely qualified for those duties in youth. Much of the 
time which might have sufficed to give her knowledge and 
practical skill, in respect to household affairs, is wasted in 
a manner injurious alike to health, habits, and taste. In 
lior intellectual training, vast consequence is attached to ac- 
complishments, which, in most instances, are learned im- 
perfectly at first, and then entirely laid aside in after life, 
Avhile the foundation of a robust, intellectual character is 
seldom laid. At the same time, she grows up, in too many 
cases, with a feeble constitution of body, and with little rel- 
ish for substantial acquirements in literature, or even for the 
more elegant pursuits which embellish the life of woman.* 
In the absence, too, of proper restraint and of a discipline 
sufficiently domestic and private, she does not always ex- 
hibit the diffidence and the maidenly reserve so appropriate 
to her age and sex. To borrow, from a private letter lately 
received, the words of a distinguished foreig-ner, who has 



* Tliat man is worthily despised v/ho does not qualify himself to 
support that family of' which he has voluntarily assumed the office 
of protector. Nor, surely, is that v/oman less deserving of con- 
tempt, who, having consumed the period of youth in frivolous read- 
ing, dissipating amusement, and in the acquisition of accomplish- 
ments which are to be consigned, immediately after marriage, to en- 
tire forgetfulness, enters upon the duties of a wife with no other 
expectation than that of being a useless and prodigal appendage to 
a household, ignorant of her duties and of the manner of discharging 
them, and with no other conceptions of the responsibilities whicli 
she has assumed, than such as have been acquired from a life of 
childish caprice, luxurious self-indulgence, and sensitive, feminine, 
yet thoroughly finished selfishness. And yet I fear that the system 
of female education at present in vogue is, in many respects, liable 
to the accusation of producing precisely this tendency. — Wayland's 
Moral Science (1835), p. 342. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 55 

spent some years in this country, " There is a class of 
girls, unfortunately very large in tlio United States, who are 
weaned from the delicate influence of strict domesticity, 
who think that pert boldness and freedom make them la- 
dies, who go all sorts of lengths in bantering with young 
men, and who pride themselves more upon taking, on board 
a steamboat, the 'seat of an old man, without thanking him, 
than upon the glorious character of a meek, pure, and kind- 
ly sister, daughter, or friend." 

Even when great pains are taken Avith the education of 
females, and the avowed object is to give a thorough, substan- 
tial course of instruction, the methods adopted are not al- 
ways judicious. A prevailing fault, in all education, at pres- 
ent, is a too free use oi stimulants ; and this fault is, perhaps, 
most prevalent — where it is most injurious — in the training 
of girls. Teachers aim too much at immediate and stri- 
king results ; and when this is the case with enthusiastic 
and accomplished instructors — operating on minds which, 
from age, sex, and mutual cmidation, are intensely excita- 
ble — there is much danger that paroxysms of study may be 
occasioned, not only unfavourable to health, but also to that 
calm and steady love for books, and that spirit of self-cul- 
ture, which form the only sure guarantee for ultimate and 
great excellence. Nothing is more common, than to find 
youth who have distinguished themselves for ardent appli- 
cation at school, but who carry from it no habits of judi- 
cious reading, and no vciy evident love for knov/lodge. 
They have been confined over the desk, when their health 
imperiously required exercise and sports in the open air; 
they have been encouraged to exhibit themselves as prod- 
igies of acquirement, before they could either relish or di- 
gest the studies so prematurely pursued ; and they too fre- 
quently leave school, at an early age, with shattered consti- 
tutions, undisciplined characters, and minds in wlxich mem- 
ory and judgment have been severely taxed, at the expense 



56 THE SCHOOL AND 

of taste, and, perhaps, too, of that modest delicacy, which 
forms the highest grace of the female character. 

This error, doubtless, springs, in part, from the very early 
age, at which school education commences with us. In 
Prussia, children are rarely placed at school before scve?/. 
Here, they usually begin at four. Another cause, which 
also has its effect, is the active emulation rfiaintained among 
our seminaries, and which, with the mistaken ambition of 
parents to have their children taught many branches in the 
shortest possible space of time, renders it almost necessary, 
that an institution which aims at a large share of public pat- 
ronage, should strive rather to teach much, than to teach well, 
and to lay more stress upon the acquisition of .loiowledge, 
than upon the due cultivation and development of all the 
faculties of the soul. Still the error is a serious one, and 
ought to be avoided. 

The length to which these remarks have alre9,dy extend- 
ed, preclude me from dwelling on another species of adap- 
tation, which ought to characterize our systems of training 
and instruction, i. e., adaptation to the future condition and 
pursuits of a child. It is not held, that early in life the boy 
or girl should be educated, as if their specific destination 
were already fixed, and they could therefore be profitably 
employed in acquiring the peculiar skill and knowledge 
which belong to their adopted profession. But there is one 
common destination, to wliich all the people of this coun- 
try seem appointed, and this is a life of useful, and, in most 
cases, laborious occupation. Our children, therefore, need 
to be taught early, by example and by precept, that there is 
respectability and happiness, in a life of labour. Instead of 
being dealt with, as if industry were a great hardship, they 
should be taught, practically, that it is the appropriate busi- 
ness, in some form, of all mankind, and that to labour with 
the hands is no more necessarily a degradation, than to la- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 57 

hour with the pen. They should be taught, that there is 
scope for talent, and for a generous ambition, elsewhere, than 
in the professions usually called learned or liberal, and thai 
it is high time that every pursuit should be made liberal, by 
being prosecuted in a liberal and enlightened spirit. And 
in a nation, where a vast proportion of the people must be 
employed in husbandry, the affections of children ought to 
be won early towards rural life. A taste for horticulture, 
and for the beautiful and picturesque in nature ; some knowl- 
edge of the principles of rural economy, and a proper sense 
of the independence, security, and happiness, which attach 
to the life of a well-educated cultivator of the soil : these 
ought to be instilled into the minds of children ; and those 
Avho live in the country, instead of being left to think that 
the path to happiness and success leads to the citj'- or the 
village, should be encouraged to seek enjoyment, in the due 
improvement of their own opportunities and privileges. It 
would be well, also, if some knowledge of the application 
of the first principles of science to the other industrial arts, 
were generally cultivated among the young ; that, thus, they 
might not only be better prepared for the life of a mechanic 
or artisan, but might be accustomed to regard all these pur- 
suits of industry, in their connexion with science and liberal 
studies. 

The last misconception in regard to education which 
I shall notice is one, in some respects, more important than 
any or all others ; since it involves them all, and is apt to 
result in the greatest evils, both to individuals and to soci- 
ety. It consists in supposing, that the great end and use of 
education is to give us worldly success and consideration. It 
is first assumed, that these are our greatest good, and then 
education is recommended, as the most certain means ofob- 
taniing them. Now it is not to be denied, that a good edu- 
cation does materially aid us in acquiring property, reputa- 
tion, and influence ; but it will do this quite as much, and. 



58 THE SCHOOL AND 

indeed, more, for those whose aims are higher than proper- 
ty or reputation, as it will for those, who regard these as 
the ultimate end of life. He, who is bent most earnestly on 
discharging his duty, and on the improvement of his own 
nature, will almost invariably prosper in business, and will 
become to others the object of respect and confidence. He 
will not be less industrious than others ; he will generally 
be more prudent in selecting means, and more skilful and 
persevering in applying them. He moves in harmony with 
those great and inflexible laws of the Creator which make 
wealth and dignities means rather than ends, and which ren- 
der it impossible, that such objects should ever satisfy our 
nobler desires. In disregarding these laws, lies the grand 
mistake of most of us. We look for happiness, to outward 
estate. We forget that " the mind is its own place, and 
can make a hell of heaven — a heaven of hell." Happiness 
can dwell, where there is neither wealth, nor pom.p, nor 
power. Indeed, it rarely dwells where these are. It is not 
to be bought with money. It cannot be won, in the strifes, 
and heart-burning rivalries of the fashionable or ambitious. 
It is the reward only of inward effort — of self-control. It 
calls for that supreme reference to the interests of the mind, 
and that independence of outward events, which form the 
principle of faith, and which can be found, only in subordi- 
nating the sensual to the spiritual element of our nature. It 
is to be found in that peace which passeth understanding — 
that contentment which is inspired, not by sloth or sensual- 
ity, but by a calm and wise estimate of the true ends of 
life ; which, though employed in acquiring, still holds it 
more blessed to give than to receive, and which, in all its 
efforts for public or private weal, leaves the issue to Infinite 
Wisdom and Mercy. To attain such a spirit is to succeed in 
life ; all other success will prove baseless and unsubstantial. 
An eloquent writer* has well exposed this great and per- 

♦ Mrs. Austin, translator of Cousin's Report on Public Instruction 
in Prussia. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 59 

nicious error of many friends of popular education. " It 
seems* to me, too, that we are guilty of great inconsislency 
as to the ends and objects of education. How industrious 
ly have not its most able and zealous champions been con- 
tinually instilling into the mind of the people, that educa- 
tion is the way to advancement, that knowledge is power, 
that a man cannot ' better himself without some learning ! 
And then we complain, or we fear, that education will set 
them above their station, disgust them with labour, make 
them ambitious, envious, dissatisfied! We must reap as 
we sow : we set before them objects tlie most tempting to 
the desires of uncultivated men ; we urge them on to the 
acquirement of knowledge by holding out the hope that 
knowledge will enable them to grasp these objects ; if their 
minds are corrupted by the nature of the aim, and imbitter- 
ed by the failure Avhich vmst be the lot of the mass, who is 
to blame 1 

" If, instead of nurturing expectations which cannot be 
fulfilled, and tiu'ning the mind on a track which must lead 
to a sense of continual disappointment, and thence of wrong, 
we were to hold out to our humbler friends the appropriate 
and attainable, nay, unfailing ends of a good education ; the 
gentle and kindly sympathies ; the sense of self-respect 
and of the respect of fellow-men ; the free exercises of the 
intellectual faculties ; the gi-atification of a curiosity that 
' grows by what it feeds on,' and yet finds food forever ; 
the power of regulating the habits nad the business of life, 
so as to extract the greatest possible portion of comfort out 
of small means ; the refining and tranquillizing enjoyment 
of the beautiful in nature and art, and the kindred percep- 
tion of the beauty and nobility of virtue ; the strengthening 
consciousness of duty fulfilled, and, to crown all, ' the peace 
which passeth all understanding ;' if we directed their as- 
pirations this way, it is probable that we should not have to 
complain of being disappointed, nor they of being deceived. 



60 THE SCHOOL AND 

Who can say that wealth can purchase better things than 
these ? and who can say that they are not within the reach 
of every man of sound body and mind, who, by labour not 
destructive of either, can procure for himself and his family 
food, clothing, and habitation ? 

" It is true, the same motives, wearing different forms, aro 
presented to all classes. ' Learn' that you may ' get on' ir. 
the motto of English education. The result is answerable. 
To those who think th:;r, result satisfactory, a change in the 
system, and, above all, in the spirit of education, holds out 
no advantages." 

I have thus dwelt, at much greater length than I intended, 
on prevailing misconceptions, in regard to the nature and 
end of education. My apology is, that all wise efforts, for 
the improvement of schools and of domestic education, must 
be founded on a clear perception of the object to be attained. 
The most grievous mistakes which are made in the man- 
agement and tuition of the young, can be traced directly 
back to erroneous or inadequate notions on this subject. 
In dismissing it now, I do not know that I can, in any way 
so clearly or forcibly set forth the views which I am anx- 
ious to impress on the reader, as by presenting an example. 
It is an example furnished by our own histoiy ; and, most 
happily, it is found in the person of him whom we all most 
delight to honour. It seems, indeed, a providential fact, 
that the individual, who draws towards his name and mem- 
ory a profounder reverence than any other American, who 
is most closely identified with the establishment both of our 
national independence and of the permanent union of the 
States, and who presents, in his life and character, the most 
perfect model of the man and the citizen, should also have re- 
ceived only such an education, as ought to be within the 
reach of everj'- child among us. 

The school education of Washington was only what is 
usually termed a common one. Reading, v/riting, arithme- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 61 

tic, and keeping accounts, with the addition of Geometry 
and Sun'eying, formed the whole of his scholastic attain- 
ments ; and, like a large portion of American youth, he left 
school before he reached the age of sixteen. But was he, 
therefore, uneducated or badly educated ? He had already, 
even at that early age, given evidence that his character 
was moulding under the influence of discipline and culture, 
and that the foundation was laid for those moral and intel- 
lectual habits, which formed the secret of his power and 
eminence tlirough life. With great fondness for athletic 
amusements, and even for military sports, he combined a 
probity and self-control, which made him the object of uni- 
versal respect among his companions, and which led to his 
being almost invariably selected as the arbiter of their dis- 
putes. To show, how early he cultivated habits of dili- 
gence, regularity, and neatness, and how deeply he was 
impressed with the importance of controlling his own pas- 
sions, and discharging every social and relative duty, Mr. 
Sparks gives extracts from one of his manuscript school- 
books, written before he was thirteen years old. Besides 
various forms for the transaction of business, such as notes 
of hand, receipts, indentm'es, bonds, &c., and selections of 
poetry pervaded by a religious spirit, this book contains 
what he called Rules of Behaviour in Company and Convert 
sation, compiled by himself from various sources, and of 
which, many are admirably calculated to soften and polish 
the manners, to keep alive the best aff'ections of the heart, 
to inculcate a reverence for every moral duty, and especial- 
ly to cultivate habits of self-control.* 

* " One hundred and ten rules," Mr. Sparks says, " are here writ- 
ten out and numbered. The source from which they were derived 
is not mentioned. They form a minute code of regulations for build- 
ing up the habits of morals, manners, and good conduct in a very 
young person. A few specimens will be enough to show their gen- 
eral complexion; and whoever has studied the character of Wash- 
F 



bZ THE SCHOOL AND 

Here, then, at the early age of thirteen, we see in this 
boy's education, the germes of that patriot, statesman, and 
chief, who was always to bo " without fear and without re- 
proach." Proper prominence was assigned, in his training, 
to moral culture. The gTeatest pains were taken, to form 
habits of diligence, and persevering application. Though 
much knowledge was not conveyed to him at school, yet 
an active curiosity Avas awakened, and a spirit of self-cul- 
ture and self-reliance developed, which always enabled 

ington, will be persuaded that some of its most prominent features 
took their shape from these rules thus early selected and adopted as 
his guide.'* In the Appendix (No I.) of the second volume of Wash- 
ington's Writings, Jlfly-scven of these rules are given. I extract a 
few of them .- 

" 1. Every action in company ought to be with some sign of. re- 
spect towards those present. 

•'2. Be no flatterer. 

" 3. Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of another, though 
he were your enemy. 

"4. Strive not with your superiors in argument, but always sub- 
mit your judgment to others with modesty. 

" 5. Take aU admonitions thankfully, in what time or place soever 
given ; but afterward, not being culpable, take a time or place con- 
venient to let him know it that gave them. 

" 6. Use no reproachful language against any one, neither curse, 
nor revile. 

" 7. Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for it is a 
sign of a tractable and commendable nature ; and in all causes of 
passion, admit reason to govern. 

" 8. Gaze not on the marks or blemishes of others, and ask not 
how they came. 

" 9. When you deliver a matter, do it without passion and with 
discretion, however mean the person be you do it to. 

" 10. In disputes, be not so desirous to overcome, as not to give 
liberty to each one to deliver his opinion. 

"11. When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be seriously 
in reverence. Honour and obey your natural parents, although they 
be poor. 

" 12. Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celes- 
tial lire called conscience." 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 63 

him, even imder the most difficult and mitried circumstan- 
ces, to meet the claims of his station. In liis case, educa- 
tion was made to perform its gi-eat and most important of- 
fice, by training its subject to habits of ardent and generous 
self-improvement. It is true, doubtless, that education has 
rarely had so noble a subject to operate on. Still, it is to 
be remembered, that Washington seems to have had origi- 
nally no very splendid endowments, and tliat his strength lay 
chiefly in that fine balance of powers, and in that unblench- 
ing perseverance of labour and purpose, which are the gift 
rather of education than of nature. Hence we maintain, 
that his life does present a most cheering example to his 
young countrymen. A sphere so exalted, and duties so 
eventful as his, will probably never devolve on any of the 
generation of his countrjTnen now rising into life. But ev- 
ery walk of life affords scope for energy, diligence, self- 
control, and a lofty public spirit. In every sphere, if we 
would be men and live as men, we shall be called to mas- 
ter great difiiculties, and in all we may make vast progress 
in knowledge and virtue, and may render vast service to 
our country' and race. Let us, then, remember what Wash- 
ington was, and what, by the faithful use of his powers and 
opportunities, he became, and let us listen to the monitory 
and inspiring summons which comes forth from his life — 
" Go THOU and do likewise."* 

* Hume has shown, in the following passage, that he appreciated 
the great and ssJutary power of good example when combined with 
proper efforts on our o\'vti part. " The prodigious effects of educa- 
tion," he says, " may convince us that the mind is not altogether 
stubborn and inflexible, but will admit of many alterations from 
its original make and structure. Let a man propose to himself the 
model of a character which he approves ; let him be well acquaint- 
ed with those particulars in which his own character deviates from 
this model ; let him keep a constant watch over himself, and bend 
his mind, by a continual effort, from the vices towards the virtues, 
and I doubt not but in time lie will find in his temper an alicrationfor 
ike betMrr 



64 THE SCHOOL AND 



SECTION V. 

WHAT IS THE EDUCATION MOST NEEDED BY THE AMER' 
ICAN PEOPLE ? 

'• In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to 
public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlight- 
ened." — Washington. 

" In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism vi^ho 
should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness" — 
religion and morality — " these firmest props of the duties of men 
and citizens." — Ibid. 

I HAVE already intimated, that education is a right of 
every human being, and in the previous sections of this 
chapter, I have endeavoured to explain, what kind and de- 
gree of education is called for, everywhere, by the condition 
of man as man. It is important to determine, farther, in 
what way the education of the people ought to be modified, 
by the spirit of the age, and especially by the condition of our 
own country. Every state of society, and every form of 
government has its dangers as well as advantages, and we 
should never forget, that it is through education, which in- 
corporates principles and habits Avith the very nature of 
children, that we can most effectually avert the one, and se- 
cure the other. What, then, are the dangers and advan- 
tages of our condition ? It is believed, that a slight exam- 
ination of them Avill satisfy us that special and most anxious 
attention ought, now, to be given to 

1. Moral and Religious Education. Moral motives and 
restraints, which are always necessary, have become, in 
this age and land, of the last importance. " Where is the 
security," asks Washington, in his farewell address, " for 
property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious ob- 
ligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of in- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 65 

v^stigation in courts of justice," and which bind, it may be 
added, incumbents of office to the faithful discharge of their 
duties ? Moral ties once dissolved, those of a political na- 
ture would be utterly powerless. And if this is the case, 
everj^-where and at all times, it must be especially so with 
us, and at this time. Men are, now, less patient than they 
once were, of the restraints of authority and even of law, 
and are more bent on change. They are excited, and some- 
times almost maddened, by the vast revolutions Avhich arc 
accomplished, with magical celerity, in the physical relations 
of nations and individuals. Constantly they are tempted, to 
grasp at glittering prizes held out by a material and sensual 
civilization, and to substitute hazardous and gambling spec- 
ulation for industry, frugality, and virtue. A gross and out- 
ward success occupies, in the minds of the people, that 
place which ought to be given only to worth ; and a man is 
thought to be nothing unless he is rich, or popular, or in- 
stalled in office. In this country, with immense general 
industry and acti\dty, there is still a great want of regular 
occupation — which the individual adopts for life, and which 
he pursues in a contented and cheerful spirit. Each one 
seems to be struggling for something other, and, as he vain^^ 
ly imagines, better than his own ; yet, though rarely satis- 
tied with his lot, he is apt to be abundantly satisfied with 
himself. Politicians find it expedient to flatter the people 
grossly, in order to lead them ; and the people, while glorying 
in their collective liberty, exhibit, too often, the sad spectacle 
of being, as individuals, overawed by public opinion or en- 
slaved by faction. In such a state of things, there may be 
a high degree of outward refinement, much of the show of 
virtue, and even brilliant advances in what styles itself civ- 
ilization. The danger is, lest, under this fair exterior, the 
soul of true virtue be eaten out — lest the lower passions and 
propensities, by becoming everpvhere predominant, gradu- 
ally sap the veiy foundation of the social edifice, and leave 
F 2 



66 THE SCHOOL AND 

it to perish througli its own weight and rottenness.* Situ 
ated as the people of this country are, they cannot too vigi- 
lantly guard against the approach of that era of dark and 
fatal degeneracy, when, according to the ironical defini- 
tions of Fielding, patriot comes to mean a candidate for 
place ; worth, power, rank, and wealth ; ivisdom, the art of 
getting all three. 

I am well aware, that these evils and dangers are coun- 
terpoised by signal advantages, both in our institutions, and 
in our position. But with all these, we shall still need the 
utmost aid of moral and religious culture. We need that, 
in the absence of positive laws, the people shall be able to 
restrain and direct themselves ; and that, when laws are es- 
tablished, they shall be objects of profound respect and sub- 
mission. We need that our youth should be taught, in their 
earliest j'-ears, to entertain the deepest horror of fraud and 
falsehood, and to resolve that, through life, their faith, when 
once plighted, whether in private or public contracts, wheth- 
er in affairs of a personal or political nature, shall be sacred 

* A great poet points out the fatal defect of this species of civil- 
ization. 

" Egyptian Thebes, 
Tyre, by the margin of the sounding waves, 
Pahnyra, central in the desert, fell, 
And the arts died by which they had been raised. 
Call Archimedes from his buried tomb 
Upon the plain of vanished S3Tacuse, 
And feelingly the sage shaU make report 
How insecure, how haseless in itself. 
Is the philosophy whose sway depends 
On mere material instruments ; how weak 
Those arts and high inventions, if unpropped 
By Virtue ! He, with sighs of pensive grief 
Amid his calm abstractions, would admit 
That not the slender privilege is theirs 
To save themselves from rank forgetfumess !" 

Wordsworth. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 67 

and irrevocable. We need to build up a force of character, 
and a strength of principle, which will enable men to 
breast themselves against the corrupt influences of fashion, 
party, and prevailing immorality ; and to lift their protest, 
when necessary-, with meekness, but yet without fear, 
against the encroachments of an unhallowed public opin- 
ion. We need, too, a training which shall inspire tho 
young with deep reverence for parents and for old age, 
with proper deference towards the judgment of the wise 
and good of all ages, and with that gi-aceful diffidence in 
their own sagacity and power, which will lead them, with- 
out surrendering their own independence, to have due re- 
spect for the recorded wisdom and experience of the past.* 

* By reverence I mean "that earnestness in contemplating 
things, which strives to know their real character and connexion, 
and the absence of arrogant forwardness and self-sufficiency, which 
considers everything silly, useless, or unmeaning, because not agree- 
ing with its own views, or not showing its character at once to the 
superficial observer ; and, lastly, the habit of honesty. We have 
seen that it is the high prerogative of man to acknowledge superiors 
and inferiors, to have laws, and to obey them ; but, since individual 
interest, as well as the pleasure or allurement of resistance and op- 
position, is in itself frequently very strong, as selfishness is but too 
apt to grow up like a rank weed, we ought to imbue the young early 
with true loyalty, that is, a sincere desire to act as members of a so- 
ciety, according to rules not arbitrarily prescribed by theinselves, 
and with a submission of individual will and desire to that of so- 
ciety. They ought to learn that it is a privilege of men to obey 
laws, and a delight to obey good ones. That these habits, early 
and deeply inculcated, may lead to submissiveness and want of in- 
dependence, is only to be feared when education is imperfect oi 
liberty at a low ebb. The greater the liberty enjoyed by a society, 
the more essential are these habits, especially in modern times, 
when various new and powerful agents of intercommunication and 
diffusion of knowledge have produced a movability and thirst for 
inquiry, which cannot leave in us any sincere fear on the ground of 
dull tameness in the adult wherever liberty is at all estabUshed. 
The ancients knew the value of these habits, and all their wise men 



68 THE SCHOOL AND 

We also need to join with the spirit of enterprise, which 
is carrying forward all our people to an improved condition, 
a spirit of contentment with a life of labour, together with 
a just appreciation of its advantages and duties, and a cheer- 
ful acquiescence in the allotments of Providence.* And, 
finally, we need to cultivate, in the young, a settled detesta- 
tion of all those incitements and indulgences, which are 
multiplied by a vulgar civilization, and which inflame their 
lower propensities, while they arm them against the holiest 
influences of truth and virtue— such as the intoxicating cup 
and the gaming-table. f And, while employing means for 
this purpose, " let us, with caution," to borrow again the 
words of the great and wise, " indulge the supposition, that 

insisted upon them. Nations which lose the precious habit of obey- 
ing, that is, self-determined obedience to the laws, because laws, 
lose invariably, likewise, the precious art of ruling. Greece, Rome, 
and Spain, for the last centuries, as well as the worst times of the 
feudal ages, are examples." — See Lieher on Political Ethics. 

* Idleness, as a political evil, reached its " classical age" in the 
worst periods of Grecian democracy and in Rome. In the former, 
attendance at the popular assembly came to be paid for, as in the 
worst times of the French Revolution. During the decline of Rome, 
the idling wretches sank so low, that, too cowardly to march against 
the conquering tribes, they nevertheless were dehghted at seeing 
the agony of the dying gladiator. When Treves was devastated by 
German predatory tribes, the first thing which the inhabitants, de • 
prived of house and property, asked for, was, Gircensian games.-— 
Liebek's Political Ethics, vol. ii., p. 243. 

t The contrast between the energy of barbarians, and the imbe- 
cility of a people rendered sensual and sordid by a vicious civiliza- 
tion, is forcibly exhibited, in the following passage from the late 
work of Dumas on Democracy. " He (Genseric) arrived before Gar- 
thage ; and while his troops were mounting the ramparts, the peo- 
ple were descending to the circus. Without was the tumult of 
arms, and within, the resounding echoes of the games : at the foot 
of the waUs were the shrieks and curses of those who slipped in 
gore and fell in the melee ; on the steps of the .-Vmphitheatre were 
the songs of musicians and the sounds of accompanying flutes " 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 69 

morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever 
may be conceded to the influence of refined education on 
minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both for- 
bid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclu- 
sion of religious principle"* 

2. We need an intellectual culture, which will impart 
more knowledge and wisdom. Where laws are but ema- 
nations of public opinion, it is supremely important that that 
public opinion should be enlightened ; and it can hardly be- 
come so, unless men acquire, in youth, a love for reading, and 
habits of patient thought. In proportion, as the people are 
called to act, through legislation and by voluntary associ- 
ation, on a greater number of important questions, in the 
same proportion is it necessary that their range of informa- 
tion be extended, and their judgments more thoroughly de- 
veloped. Tempted as Americans are by bright promises 
in the future, and living, too, in the midst of intense activity 
and excitement, they need, more than any other nation, 
habits of careful and deliberate inquirj'. They need, more- 
over, that enlightened estimate of the diificulties inherent in 
many subjects, which they can obtain only by candid study, 
and which would tend to make them at once more tolerant 
towards those who think differently, and less clamorous, in 
public affairs, after one exclusive line of policy. In theory, 
we are supposed to think each one for himself, and to carry, 
to the ballot-box, the unbiased result of our own convictions 
and preferences. Is it not most desirable, that the educa- 
tion of the whole people should become so improved, that 
this theory can be reduced to practice, and that dema- 
gogues and all the leaders of faction shall see, in the grow- 
ing intelligence of the people, waniing signs of the decline 
of their own power and consequence ? 

Without enumerating, here, the various branches of study, 
which are called for by the state of the times, and of our 
* Washington's Farewell Address. 



70 THE SCHOOL AND 

own country, 1 may remark, that more thorough instruction 
in the first principles of politics is all-important. We all 
read enougbi about political affairs ; but fundamental instruc- 
tion in tlie elements of the science of government — in those 
great truths which guided our fathers through times of trial, 
and which can alone give strength, and enduring glory to 
our institutions and our freedom — tliis is greatly needed. 
Much time, which is now given to other studies, might be 
profitably devoted to the histor}.' and structure of our gov- 
ernment, and to those noble examples of public virtue and 
achievements, which shine as lights along the tract of the 
past.* In holding up such examples, however, one caution 
ought to be observed. The noblest specimens of our fall- 
en nature are marred by imperfection. Instead, then, of 
teaching our children to admire great men in the gross, we 
should rather teach them to discriminate between their acts 
of wisdom and their errors, as well as between their virtues 
and their vices. Otherwise the power of judgment is grad- 
ually obscured ; distinctions the most sacred and important 
are confounded ; and men are taught first to tolerate, and at 
length to admire and imitate, what they ought most anxious- 
ly to shun. In one of the numbers of the Spectator, the 
writer judiciously suggests, " whether, instead of a theme 
or copy of verses, which are the usual exercises, as they 
are called in the school plirase, it would not be more proper 
that a boy should be tasked once or twice a week to write 

* To illustrate the disproportioned attention paid, even in ele- 
mentary schools, to mathematics as compared with moral science, 
I may mention the following fact, with which I met recently on vis- 
iting the teachers' department in one of our largest and best-con- 
ducted academies. Out of seventy-five young persons in this de- 
partment who were preparing to teach district and other elementary 
Echools, hxAfivc were studying history of any kind ; none were stud- 
}ing the history of the United States ; while thirty-four were study- 
ing Algebra, and almost all, Geometrj', Trigonometry, and Survey- 
ing. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 71 

down his opinion of such persons and things as occur to 
him in his reading ; that he shoidd descant upon the ac- 
tions of Turnus or vEneas, show wherein they excelled or 
were defective, censure or approve any particular action, 
observe how it might have been carried to a gi'eater degree 
of perfection, and how it exceeded or fell short of another. 
He might, at the same time, mark what was moral in any 
speech, and how far it agreed with the character of the 
person speaking. This exercise would soon strengthen his 
judgment in what is blamable or praiseworthy, and give 
him an early seasoning of morality."* 

3. I have already insisted on the necessity of having 
some reference, even in the school-education of children, to 
their future pursuits. I now remark that, after leaving 
school, each child should be bred to some regular occupa- 
tion. This industrial training is even more important than 
that given at school. Without a definite pinsuit, a man is 
an excrescence on society. He has no regular place or 
part to fill, and is apt to feel little concern for the general 
welfare. In isolating himself from the cares and employ- 
ments of other men, he forfeits much of their sympathy, and 
can neither give nor receive great benefit. If rich enough to 
live in idleness, he is, now, morbid through want of object or 
interest, and now, through profligacy, reckless of liimself 
and a curse to others. If he is poor and yet idle, or, even 
though not idle, if he lives rather by shifts than by regular 
and systematic industry, he rarely becomes useful or re- 
spectable, and, in a vast proportion of cases, sinks to infamy 
or crime. This is apparent from the statistics of our pris- 
ons ; and it would be equally obvious if we could analyze 

* The teacher and parent may derive useful hints and assistance 
in prescribing such exercises, from that part of Rollin's Belles Let- 
tres which is devoted to the study of History. The author dwells 
at length, and with many interesting examples, on the moral lessons 
10 be gathered from the leading events and characters of history. 



72 THE SCHOOL AND 

the composition of most mobs, or the character and history 
of those who lead a life of vice. Dr. Lieber states, that of 
three hundred and fifty-eight criminals whose cases he had 
examined, two hundred and twenty-seven had never been 
hound out to any trade or regular occupation, seventy-nine 
were bound out, but ran away before they had stayed out 
their time, and only fifty -two were bound out and remained 
with their respective masters until the completion of their 
proper time ; while the average term for which they were 
imprisoned was, in case of those who had served out their 
time, not quite four years, whereas, in case of those who 
ran away, it was more than^ue years.* Similar facts might 
be multiplied to almost any extent, and they show that this 
kind of education is truly of the last importance. Among 
the ancients, the parent who neglected to give his son a 
trade was deemed to have forfeited, in his old age, a claim 
upon that son for support ; and by the law of Solon, which 
enforced it most strenuously in ordinary cases, this claim 
was expressly dispensed with, when the parent had been 
delinquent in this matter.f 

* Political Ethics, ii., 242. 

t One of the most striking features, in the improved system of 
German education, is the great attention paid to order, economy, 
and neatness. " One of the circumstances," says Professor Stowe, 
" that interested me most, was the excellent order and rigid econo- 
my with which all the Prussian institutions are conducted. Partic- 
ularly in large boarding-schools, where hundreds, and sometimes 
thousands of youth are collected together, the benefits of the system 
are strikingly manifest. Every boy is taught to wait upon himself; 
to keep his person, clothing, furniture, and books in perfect order 
and neatness ; and no extravagance in dress, and no waste of fuel, 
or food, or property of any kind, is permitted. Each student has his 
own single bed, which is generally a light mattress laid upon a 
frame of slender bars of iron, because such beds are not likely to be 
infested with insects, and each one makes his own bed and keeps it 
in order. In the house there is a place for everything, and every- 
thing must be in its place. In one closet are the shoe-brushes and 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 73 

4. The state of our country, and the character of the age, 
call loudly ybr a more elegant and humanizing culture. In 
the habits of a people, few things have a more important in- 
fluence, for good or evil, than the use they make of leisure. 
Some relief from labour men must have ^ something to vary 
the monotony of life, and restore the mind to a sense of its 
elasticity. If this relief be not afforded by innocent and 
improving recreations, it v/ill be sought for in sensual in- 
dulgence.* In our country it is peculiarly so. The ardour 

blacking, in another the lamps and oil, in another the fuel. At the 
doors are good mats and scrapers, and everything of the kind neces- 
sary for neatness and comfort, and every student is taught, as care- 
fully as he is taught any other lesson, to make a proper use of all 
these articles at the right time, and then to leave them in good or 
der at their proper places. Every instance of neglect is sure to re- 
ceive its appropriate reprimand, and, if necessary, severe punish- 
ment. I know of nothing that can benefit us more than the intro- 
duction of such oft-repeated lessons on carefulness and frugality into 
all our educational establishments ; for the contrary habits of care 
lessness and wastefulness, notwithstanding all the advantages which 
we enjoy, have already done us immense mischief Very many of 
our families waste and throw away nearly as much as they use ; 
and one third of the expenses of housekeeping might be saved by a 
system of frugality. It is true, that we have such an abundance of 
everything, that this enormous waste is not sensibly felt, as it would 
be in a more densely populated region ; but it is not always to be so 
with us." — Stowe's Report 071 Elcme7ilary Public Instruction in Europe. 

* Tliis want of resource and recreation is not to be supplied in all 
cases by mere intellectual pursuits. There are many whose minds 
are not sufficiently cultivated to avail themselves of these ; they 
have little or no taste for them, and yet are quite capable of being 
made very worthy, sensible, respectable, and happy men. Resour- 
ces must be provided of sufficient variety to supply the different 
tastes and capacities we have to deal with ; and we must not shut 
our gates against any, merely because they feel no ambition to be- 
come philosophers. By gently leading them, or rather, perhaps, by 
letting them find their own way, from one step to another, you may 
at length succeed in making them what you wish them to be. 

'* It is with these views that I have endeavoured to provide objects 
G 



74 THE SCHOOL AND 

with which men engage here in business, they carry to 
their pleasures ; and, in the absence of higher sources of 
exhilaration, they rush to the gaming-table, and, above all, 
to the intoxicating cup. The contrast, in this respect, be- 
tween our people, and those of countries in which the fine 
arts are generally cultivated, is most striking and instruct- 
ive. Take Germany, for example. There, the people have 
access to ardent spirits as well as wine ; moral restraints 
are not more powerful than with us ; and yet, in many 
provinces, drunkenness is almost unknov/n. It will not be 
easy to find an explanation for this fact, except in the prev- 
alence, throughout the same provinces, of a taste for music 
and other arts ; a taste which has been developed by culture, 
and in which all the people, from the highest to the lowest, 
find an inexhaustible resource. Efforts to avert the prog- 
ress of intemperance are doubtless most necessary and im- 
portant, and they are eminently worthy of encouragement ; 
but, to be permanently useful, they should be coupled with 

of interesting pursuit or innocent amusement for our colony. The 
gardens and the cultivation of flowers, which is encouraged by ex- 
hibitions and prizes, occupy the summer evenings of many of the 
men or elder boys. Our music and singing engage many of both 
sexes — young and old, learned and unlearned. We have a small 
glee class, that meets once a week round a cottage fire. There is 
another, more numerous, for sacred music, that meets every Wed- 
nesday and Saturday during the winter, and really performs very 
well ; at least, I seldom hear music that pleases me more. There 
is also a band, &c., &c. ; and when you remember how few families 
we muster, not more than seventy or eighty, you will think, with me, 
that we are quite a musical society, and that any trouble I took at 
first to introduce this pursuit has been amply repaid. You must 
observe that all these instruments are entirely their own, and of 
their own purchasing. I have nothing to do with them farther than 
now and then helping them to remunerate their teachers." 

" We find drawing ahnost as useful a resource as music, except 
that a much smaller niunber engage in it." — Letter of an English 
Manufacturer on the Elevation of the Labouring Classes 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 75 

measures to supply, from higher and purer sources, the ex- 
hilaration wliich men, when at leisure, always require. If 
the mind of the reclaimed drunkard be left to brood over va- 
cancy, we must not be surprised that he returns to his cups ; 
nor must we wonder that so many, who are now forming 
habits of indulgence, decline surrendering their pleasures, 
when they are offered no substitute. In order to effect a 
lasting change in the habits of the people, we must raise and 
purify their tastes. Hence the importance of libraries, of 
associations for mutual improvement, and of every institution 
which proposes the diffusion of knowledge.* 

The fine arts, however, have one advantage which can 
hardly be claimed for books. As things now stand, each 

* " Let no superficial judgment regard as illusory the beneficent 
moral effect here imputed to general diifusive education." 

" The most prevalent vice of the United States is intoxication. 
How many youth of bright promise, how many really amiable men 
of advanced age, annually fall victims to this destructive habit ! 
Would this^gccur if the head of each family found in its bosom the 
soothing enjoyment of intellectual converse in his hours of domes- 
tic retirement and leisure 1 if among his domestic circle each mem- 
ber could contribute something to enUven his hours of rest in the 
sultiy midday heat of summer, or the long nights of winter 1 or, 
when conversation had exliausted its stores, could cheer him with 
agreeable narratives of biography and history, of voyages and trav- 
els, or the lessons of more profitable knowledge extracted from the 
neighbouring newspaper and village library 1" 

" Would well-educated youth, brought up to respect labour, after 
seeking in vain for lucrative employment in the crowded professions 
of law and physic, abandon themselves to this suicidal vice, rathei 
than seek an honourable subsistence in rural and mechanical pur 
suits 1" 

"Would old men of amiable, and even polished manners, after a 
life of generous hospitality, or a manhood devoted to the public ser- 
vice, but uninspired by that religious hope that brightens at ap- 
proaching dissolution, sink into this Lethean gulf, because they 
could find nothing to interest them longer in this world, and timo 
had become an insupportable burden 1" — C. F. Meeceb. 



76 THE SCHOOL AND 

one reads such book as gratifies his own taste, or as maybe 
thrown in his way by chance, or by the design of others. 
The consequence is, that the reading of many men only 
contributes to strengthen their lower propensities. This 
can hardly be the case with the fine arts. Their produc- 
tions are more limited in their range, and are exposed to 
more general scrutiny. Among a people, too, who have 
such notions of decorum as prevail with us, these arts can 
hardly venture to appeal, openly and directly, to our worst 
passions. 

There is another benefit, to be anticipated in our country, 
from the cultivation of a taste for the arts, to which I will 
advert in this connexion. Foreign travellers have com- 
plained of the American people, that they rarely have leis- 
ure, and that, when they have, they know not how to enjoy 
it. There is some truth in the remark. We are eminent- 
ly a working people. Part of this industry results, no 
doubt, from our condition, and from the powerful incite- 
ments to enterprise, afforded by a young and prosperous 
country. Part of it, however, seems to result from impa- 
tience of rest. Not a few of the rash adventures and lU- 
inous speculations, by which we have distinguished our- 
selves of late, had their origin in a love of excitement, 
and in our aversion to being without employment. A partial 
remedy for this evil, might be found by diffusing a taste for 
the elegant and ornamental arts. These arts would furnish 
that moderate and agreeable excitement which is so desira- 
ble in the intervals of labour. They would tranquillize, in 
some degree, the minds which have been agitated by bu- 
siness, and would dispose them to seek more frequent re- 
lief from its cares, and to plunge with less haste into new, 
hazardous, and anxious undertakings. They would teach 
us all, that there is a time for rest and refreshment as well 
as for exertion ; and that the one may conduce as well as 
the other, not only to our enjoyment and dignity, but also 
to our penuanent prosperity in business. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 77 

It may be alleged, by way of objection, that the arts are 
liable to abuse, and that they have, sometimes, been enlist- 
ed, in the service of vice and licentiousness. This is doubt- 
less true of art, as it is of literature. But in regard to the 
latter, we encourage men to cultivate it, and we give them 
access to books of all kinds, because we are confident that, 
with a fair field, truth and right must ultimately triumph. 
So we would encourage the arts, because we believe that 
the natural affinities of the human mind will in the end se- 
cure a preference for works conceived in a pure taste ; and 
that in our country, this would at once be the case, so far as 
moral considerations are involved. It must be remembered, 
that the noblest efforts of art have been made in the service 
of virtue and religion. History shows that the wing of Fan- 
cy has always drooped when she attempted to soar in a 
sensual or misanthropic mood. At such seasons she can- 
not gaze upon the unveiled sun ; her visions are dim and 
earthly ; they do violence to truth and nature, and are soon 
consigned to merited obscurity. 

Among a volatile and dissipated people, the arts would 
doubtless be rendered subservient to amusement and licen- 
tious indulgence. It would be at the expense, however, of 
their highest excellence. On the other hand, among a 
grave people, charged with serious cares, they would be 
likely to take a different type, and contribute, as music has 
always done in Germany since the days of Luther, to the 
refinement of taste and the strengthening of moral feeling. 
The greatest composers of that land have consecrated their 
genius to the service of religion. Haydn, whose memory 
is so honoured, was deeply religious. His Oratorio of the 
Creation was produced, as he himself tells us, at a time 
V hen he was much in prayer. In writing musical scores, 
he was accustomed to place, both at the beginning and at 
the close of each one, a Latin motto, expressive of his pro- 
found feeling, that he was dependant on God in all his ef- 
01 



78 THE SCHOOL AND 

forts, and that to His glory should be consecrated every 
offspring of his genius. 

The mention of music leads me to notice the special 
claims which that art has upon us. All men have been 
endowed with susceptibility to its influence. The child is 
no sooner born, than the nurse begins to sooth it to repose 
by music. Through life, music is employed to animate the 
depressed, to inspire the timid with courage, to lend new 
wings to devotion, and to give utterance to joy or sorrow. 
It is pre-eminently the language of the heart. The under- 
standing gains knowledge, through the eye. The heart is 
excited to emotion, through tones falling on the ear. And 
so universal, is the disposition to resort to music, for- the 
purpose of either expressing or awakening emotion, that 
the great dramatist, that master in the science of the heart, 
declares that 

" The man that hath no music in himself, 

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils ; 
The motions of his spirit are dull as night, 
And his affections dark as Erebus : 
Let no such man be trusted." 

Well may this be said of an art which has power to raise 
the coarsest veteran to noble sentiments and deeds, and to 
inspire the rawest and most timorous recruit with a con- 
tempt of death. 

It is worthy of remark, too, that, as the susceptibility to 
no other art is so universal, so none seems to have so strong 
an affinity for virtue, and for the purer and gentler affections. 
It is affirmed as a curious fact, that the natural scale of mu- 
sical sounds can only produce good and kindly feelings, 
and that this scale must be reversed, if you would call 
forth sentiments of a degraded or vicious character. It 
is certain that, from the fabled days of Orpheus and Apollo, 
music has always been regarded as the handmaid of civili- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 79 

zation and moral refinement. Wherever we would awake 
the better affections, v/hether in the sanctuary or the closet, 
in the school for infants or in the House of Refuge for ju- 
venile delinquents, we employ its aid. 

The Germans have a proverb, vi^hich has come dovi^n from 
Luther, that, where music is not, the devil enters. As Da- 
vid took his harp, when he would cause the evil spirit to 
depart from Saul, so the Germans employ it to expel obdu- 
racy from the hearts of the depraved. In their schools for 
the reformation of youthful offenders, (and the same remark 
might be applied to those of our own country), music has 
been found one of the most effectual means of inducing do- 
cility among the stubborn and vicious.* ItAvould seem that 
so ong as any remains of humanity linger in the heart, it 

*• " At Berlin I visited an establishment for the reformation of 
youthful offenders. Here boys are placed, who have committed of- 
fences that bring them under the supervision of the police, to be in- 
structed and rescued from vice, instead of being hardened in iniquity 
by living in the common prison with old offenders. It is under the 
care of Dr. Kopf, a most simple-hearted, excellent old gentleman ; 
just such a one as reminded us of the ancient Christians, who lived 
in the times of the persecution, simplicity, and purity of the Chris- 
tian Church. He has been very successful in reclaiming the young 
offender ; and many a one, who would otherwise have been forever 
lost, has, by the influence of this institution, been saved to himself, 
to his country, and to God. As I was passing with Dr. K. from 
room to room, I heard some beautiful voices singing in an adjoining 
apartment, and, on entering, I found about twenty of the boys sitting 
at a long table, making clothes for the establishment, and singing at 
their work. The doctor enjoyed my surprise, and, on going out, re- 
marked, ' I always keep these little rogues singing at their w^ork ; 
for while the children sing the devil cannot come among them at 
all ; he can only sit out doors there and growl ; but if they stop 
singing, in the devil comes.' The Bible and the singing of religious 
hymns are among the most efficient instruments which he employs 
for softening the hardened heart, and bringing the vicious and stub- 
born wiU to docility."— Tic^or; of Professor Stowc on Elementary Puh- 
AC InstnirAum in Europe. 



80 THE SCHOOL AND 

retains its susceptibility to music. And as proof that this 
music is more powerful for good than for evil, is it not wor- 
thy of profound consideration that, in all the intimations 
which the Bible gives us of a future world, music is associ- 
ated only with the employments and happiness of Heaven ? 

We read of no strains of music coming up from the re- 
gions of the lost. To associate its melodies and harmonies 
with the wailings and convulsions of reprobate spirits would 
be doing violence, as all feel, to our conceptions of its true 
character.* Nothing could illustrate more impressively its 
natural connexion with our better nature. Abused it doubt- 
less may be — for which of God's gifts is not abused ? — but its 
value, when properly employed as a means of culture, as a 
source of refined pleasure, and as the proper aid and ally of 
our efforts and aspirations after good, is clear and unques- 
tionable. " In music," says Hooker, " the very image of 
vice and virtue is perceived. It is a thing that delighteth 
all ages and beseemeth all states — a thing as seasonable in 
grief as joy, as decent being added to actions of greatest 
solemnity, as being used when men sequester themselves 
from actions." 

So the pious Bishop Beveridge : " That which I have 
found the best recreation both to my mind and body, when- 
soever either of them stands in need of it, is music, which ex- 
ercises at once both my body and soul, especially when I 
play myself ; for then, methinks, the same motion that my 
hand makes upon the instrument, the instrument makes upon 
my heart. It calls in my spirits, composes my thoughts, de- 
lights my ear, recreates my mind, and so not only fits me for 
after business, but fills my heart at the present with pure and 

* Has not Milton offered violence both to nature and revelation, 
in the picture which he draws towards the close of the first book of 
his Paradise Lost, where he represents the legions of Satan as mo- 
ving " in perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood of flutes and soft re- 
corders," " soft pipes that charmed their painful steps," &.c., &c 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 81' 

useful thoughts ; so that, when the music sounds the sweet- 
liest in my ears, truth commonly flows the clearest in my 
mind. And hence it is that I find my soul is become more 
harmonious by being accustomed so much to hanuony, and 
adverse to all manners of discord, that the least jarring 
sounds, either in notes or words, seem very harsh and un- 
pleasant to me." 

I have spoken of the fact, that all men are more or less 
susceptible to the influence of music. It is also tme that 
all can acquire the rudiments of the art. It has long been 
supposed that, in order to learn to sing, a child must be en- 
dowed with what is called a musical ear. That this, how- 
ever, is an error, is evident from experiments which have 
been made on the most extensive scale in Germany, and 
which are now repeating in this country. In Germany, al- 
most every child at school, is instructed in singing, as well as 
in reading. The result is, that though in this respect, as in 
many others, there is great difference in the natural aptitude 
of children, still all who can learn to read, can also learn to 
sing.* It is found, farther, that this knowledge can be ac- 

* " The universal success, also, and very beneficial results, with 
which the arts of drawing and designing, vocal and instrumental 
music, moral instruction, and the Bible, have been introduced into 
schools, was another fact peculiarly interesting to me. I asked all 
the teachers with whom I conversed, whether they did not sometimes 
find children who were actually incapable of learning to draw and to 
sing. I have had but one reply, and that was, that they found the 
same diversity of natural talent in regard to these as in regard to 
reading, writing, and the other branches of education ; but they had 
never seen a child who was capable of learning to read and \\Tite, who 
could not be taught to sing well and draw neatly, and that, too, with- 
out taking any time which would at all interfere with, indeed, which 
would not actually promote, his progress in other studies. In re- 
gard to the necessity of moral instruction, and the beneficial influ- 
ence of the Bible in schools, the testimony was no less explicit 
and uniform. I inquired of all classes of teachers, and of men of 
every grade of religious faith ; instructers in common schools, high 



82 THE SCHOOL AND 

quired without interfering with the other branches of study, 
and with evident benefit both to the disposition of the 
scholars, and the discipUne of the school. A gentleman 
Avho, in this country, has had more than 4000 pupils in mu- 
sic, affirms that his experience gives the same result. The 
number of schools among us, in which music is made one 
of the regular branches of elementary instruction, is already 
great, and is constantly increasing, and I have heard of no 
case in which, with proper training, every child has not 
been found capable of learning. Indeed, the fact, that 
among the ancients and in the schools of the Middle Ages, 
music was regarded as indispensable in a full course of ed- 
ucation, might of itself teach us, that the prejudice in ques- 
tion is founded in error. 

Another consideration which gives music special claims 
on our regard as a branch of cidture, is, that the best speci- 
mens of the art are within our reach. It is rare, that the pupil 
can ever look, in this country, on the original works of a mas- 
ter, in painting or sculpture. We have engravings, casts, 

schools, and schools of art ; of professors in colleges, universities, 
and professional seminaries in cities and in the country ; in places 
where there was a uniformity and in places where there was a di- 
versity of creeds ; of believers and unbelievers ; of rationalists and 
enthusiasts ; of Catholics and Protestants, and I never found but one 
reply ; and that was, that to leave the moral faculty uninstnioted 
was to leave the most important part of the human mind undevel- 
oped, and to strip education of almost everything that can make it 
valuable ; and that the Bible, independently of the interest attend- 
ing it, as containing the most ancient and influential writings ever 
lecorded by human hands, and comprising the religious system of 
almost the whole of the civilized world, is in itself the best hook 
that can be put into the hands of children to interest, to exercise, 
and to unfold the intellectual and moral powers. Every teacher 
whom I consulted repelled with indignation the idea that moral in- 
struction is not proper for schools, and that the Bible cannot be in- 
troduced mto common schools without encouraging sectarian bias 
in the matter of teaching." — Stowe's Report, &.C. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 83 

and other copies, but they can give us only faint conceptions 
of the artist's design, and of his execution hardly an idea. 
In written music, we have a transcript of the conceptions 
of the composer, almost as complete as in written poetry or 
eloquence, and as easy of access. 

In all these arts, however, much may be done, to call 
forth and improve the taste of our people. By multiplying 
exhibitions of art ; by extending patronage to the native tal- 
ent for painting and sculpture which abounds among us ; by 
promoting efforts for the diffusion of a correct taste in music, 
and a love for that art, so essential in our devotions, and so 
useful everywhere ; and, finally and especially, by introdu- 
cing elementary instruction, both in music and drawing, into 
our schools, we can do much towards securing for our land 
the multiplied blessings Avhich would result from the gen- 
eral love of art. 

Says a late Report of the School Committee of the City 
of Boston, when speaking of Drawing, " Your committee 
cannot help remarking, as they pass, that, in their opinion, 
there is no good reason for excluding the art of linear draw- 
ing from any liberal scheme of popular instruction. It has 
a direct tendency to quicken that important faculty, the fac- 
ulty of observation. It is a supplement to writing. It is in 
close alliance with geometry. It is conversant Math form, 
and intimately connected with all the improvements in the 
mechanic arts. In all the mechanical, and many of the 
olher employments of life, it is of high practical utility. 
Drawing, like music, is not an accomplishment only ; it has 
important uses : and if music be successfully introduced 
into our public schools, your committee express the hope 
and the conviction that drawing, sooner or later, will fol- 
low." 

In the same report the committee observe, " There are 
said to be at this time not far from eighty thousand com- 
mon schools in this country, in which are to be found the 



84 THE SCHOOL AND 

people who, m coming years, will mould the character of 
this democracy. If vocal music were generally adopted as 
a branch of instruction in these schools, it might be reason- 
ably expected, that in at least two generations, we should 
be changed into a musical people. The great point to be 
considered, in reference to the introduction of vocal music 
into popular elementar}^ instruction, is, that thereby you set 
in motion a mighty power, Avhich silently, but surely in the 
end, will humanize, refine, and elevate a whole communi- 
ty.* Music is one of the line arts ; it therefore deals with 

* "We have listened," says a recent traveller in Switzerland, " to 
the peasant children's songs, as they went out to their morning oc- 
cupations, and saw their hearts enkindled to the highest tones of 
music and poetry by the setting sun or the familiar objects of na- 
ture, each of which was made to echo some truth, or point to some 
duty, by an appropriate song. We have heard them sing ' the har- 
vest h3Tnan' as they went forth, before daylight, to gather in the 
grain. We have seen them assemble in groups at night, chanting 
a hymn of praise for the glories of the heavens, or joining in some 
patriotic chorus or some social melod}", instead of the frivolous and 
corrupting conversation which so often renders such meetings the 
source of evil. In addition to this, we visited communities where 
the youth had been trained from their childhood to exercises in vo- 
cal music, of such a character as to elevate instead of debasing the 
mind, and have found that it served in the same manner to cheer 
their social assemblies, in place of the noise of folly or the poisoned 
cup of intoxication. We have seen the young men of such a com- 
munity assembled to the number of several hundreds, from a cir- 
cuit of twenty miles ; and, instead of spending a day of festivity in 
rioting and drunkenness, pass the whole time, with the exception of 
that employed in a frugal repast and a social meeting, in a concert 
of social, moral, and religious hymns, and devote the proceeds of 
the exhibition to some object of benevolence. We could not but 
look at the contrast presented on similar occasions in our own coun- 
try with a blush of shame. We have visited a village whose whole 
moral aspect was changed in a few years by the introduction of 
music of this character, even among adults, and where the aged 
were compelled to express their astonishment at seeing the young 
abandon their corrupting and riotous amusements for this delightfiil 
and improving exercise." 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 85 

abstract beauty, and so lifts man to the source of all beauty 
— from finite to infinite, and from the world of matter to the 
world of spirits and to God. Music is the great handmaid 
of civilization. Whence come those traditions of a rever- 
end antiquity — seditions quelled, cures wrought, fleets and 
armies governed by the force of song — whence that respond- 
ing of rocks, woods, and trees to the harp of Orpheus — 
whence a city's walls uprising beneath the wonder-working 
touches of Apollo's lyre 1 These, it is true, are fables ; yet 
they shadow forth, beneath the veil of allegory, a profoimd 
truth. They beautifully proclaim the mysterious union be- 
tween music, as an instrument of man's civilization, and the 
soul of man. Prophets and wise men, large-minded law- 
givers of an olden time, understood and acted on this truth. 
The ancient oracles were uttered in song. The laws of 
the Twelve Tables were put to music and got by heart at 
school. Minstrel and sage are, in some languages, con- 
vertible terms. Music is allied to the highest sentiments 
of man's moral nature : love of God, love of country, love 
of friends. Wo to the nation in which these sentiments 
are allowed to go to decay ! What tongue can tell the un- 
utterable energies that reside in these three engines — 
church music, national airs, and fireside melodies — as 
means of informing and enlarging the mighty heart of a free 
people !" 

In thus describing the kind of education which is called 
for by the situation of our country and the spirit of the age, 
I have referred, not only to school education, but to all the 
agencies, which tend to form the minds, and characters of 
the rising generation. It is one thing to set forth what this 
education ought to be, and quite another to determine what 
it actually is. On this latter point, all who wish well to 
their country ought to speak plainly ; their evidence should 
be given in without prejudice or passion ; with no alloy of 
H 



86 THE SCHOOL AND 

party feeling ; and with a single desire to see the American 
people fulfilling the high destiny marked out for them by 
Providence. He is the best friend of his country who, on 
such subjects, utters the truth, and the whole truth. It is, 
unhappily, the interest of many in every party, who wish 
to use the people for the accomplishment of their own sor- 
did purposes, to lavish upon them the most unbounded pro- 
fessions of confidence in their wisdom : and it is not easy, 
in such a state of things, for one, however loyal to the in- 
stitutions of his country, or however devoted to the popular 
Avelfare, to hint at prevailing imperfections, without incur- 
ring reproach and exposing himself to misapprehension. 
And yet, if tliis is not done, if he who thinks he sees dan- 
gerous maxims pervading the popular mind, and radical de- 
fects in existing systems of education, may not proclaim 
them boldly, and with impunity, too, where is our boasted 
freedom, and where the hope that our future shall be better 
than our past ? All advancement in a higher civilization 
must be the result of a clear perception of existing evils 
and dangers ; and such perception can evidently never be 
attained unless individuals are free to discuss and expose 
them. 

I ask, then, what is the aggregate intelligence and moral 
culture bestowed by education on the people of this coun- 
try ? I answer, in the words of one who has always been 
known as the advocate of the largest liberty, and whose 
fmnness in the declaration of his opinions has only been 
, equalled by the sincerity with which, in the estimation of 
all his fellow-citizens, he has held them.* 

" Nothing is more common than for public journalists to 
rxtol in unmeasured terms ' the intelligence of the commu- 
iiirv. On all occasions, according to them. Vox populi est 
vox Dei. We are pronounced to be a highly cultivated, in- 
tellectual, and civilized people. When we, the people, 
* Lecture on Civilization, by Samuel Young. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 87 

called for the exclusion of small bills, we were right ; 
when we called for the repeal of the exclusion, we were 
equally right. We are divided into political parties nearly- 
equal, but we are both right. We disagree respecting the 
fundamental principles of government ; we quarrel about 
the laws of a circulating medium ; we are bank and anti- 
bank, tariff and anti-tariff, for a national bankrupt law and 
against a national bankrupt law, for including corporations 
and for excluding corporations, for unlimited internal im- 
provement, judicious internal improvement, and for no in- 
ternal improvement. We have creeds, sects, denom- 
inations, and faiths of all varieties, each insisting that it is 
right, and that all the others are wrong. We have cold 
water societies, but many more that habitually deal in hot 
water. We are anti-masonic and masonic, ' pro-slavery 
and anti-slavery ;' and are spiced and seasoned with ab- 
olitionism, immediateism, gradualism, mysticism, material- 
ism, agrarianism, sensualism, egotism, skepticism, ideal- 
ism, transcendentalism. Van Burenism, Harrisonism, Mor- 
monism, and animal magnetism. Every public and private 
topic has its furious partisans, struggling with antagonists 
equally poshive and unyielding, and yet we are told that 
we are a well-informed, a highly civilized people. 

" If we look to our legislative halls, to the lawgivers of the 
land, to the men who have been selected for the greatest 
wisdom and experience, we shall see the same disagree- 
ment and collision on every subject. 

" He who would play the politician must shut his eyes to 
all this, and talk incessantly of the intelligence of the peo- 
ple. Instead of attempting to lead the community in the 
right way, he must go with them in the wrong. 

" It is true, he may preach sound doctrine in reference to 
the education of youth. He may state the vast influence it 
has upon the whole life of man. He may freely point out 
the imperfections in the moral, intellectual, and physical in- 



08 THE SCHOOL AND 

struction of the children of the present day. He may nrge 
the absolute necessity of good teachers, of the multiplica- 
tion of libraries, and every other means for the diffusion of 
useful knowledge. He may expatiate upon the supersti- 
tious fears, the tormenting fancies, the erroneous notions, 
the wrong prepossessions, and the laxity of morals which 
most children are allowed to imbibe for want of early and 
correct instruction, and which, in the majority of cases, 
last through life. He may, with truth and freedom, de- 
clare, that the mental impress, at twenty, gives the colour- 
ing to the remainder of life ; and that most young men of 
our country, of that age, have not half the correct informa- 
tion and sound principles which might, with proper care, 
have been instilled into their minds before they were ten 
years old. 

" But here the politician must stop his censures and close 
his advice . At twenty one, the ignorant, uneducated, and way- 
ward youth is entitled to the right of suffrage, and mingles 
with a commimity composed of materials like himself. He 
bursts the shell which had enveloped him; he emerges 
from the chrysalis state of darkness and ignorance, and at 
once becomes a component part of ' a higlily intelligent, en- 
lightened, and civilized community.' 

" If we honestly desire to know society as it is, we must 
subject it to a rigorous analysis. We must divest ourselves 
of all partiality, and not lay the ' flattering imction' of van- 
ity to our souls. The clear perception of our deficiencies, 
of the feeble advances already made in knowledge and civ- 
ilization, is the best stimulus to united, energetic, and useful 
exertion. Bitter truth is much more w.holesome than sweet 
delusion. 

" The gross flattery which is weekly and daily poured out 
in legislative speeches and by a time-serving press, has a 
most pernicious influence upon the public mind and morals. 
The greater the ignorance of the mass, the more readily the 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 89 

flattery is swallowed. He who is the most circumscribed 
in knowledge, perceives not a single cloud in his mental 
horizon. Attila and his Huns doubtless believed them- 
selves to be the most civilized people on earth ; and if they 
had possessed our editorial corps, they would have proved 
it to be so. 

" Weak and vain females, in the days of their youth, have 
been charged by the other sex with an extraordinary fond- 
hess for flattery. But, judging by the constant specimens 
which are lavishly administered and voraciously swallowed, 
the male appetite for hyperboles of praise is altogether su- 
perior. 

" The vainglorious boastings of the American press ex- 
cite the risibility of all intelligent foreigners. According to 
the learned and philosophic De Tocqueville, this is the 
country, of all others, where public opinion is the most dic- 
tatorial and despotic. Like a spoiled child, it has been in- 
dulged, flattered, and caressed by interested sycophants un 
til its capriciousness and tyranny are boundless. 

" When Americans boast of their cultivated minds and 
humane feelings, foreigners point them to the existence of 
negro slavery. When they claim the civic merit of un- 
qualified submission to the rules of social order, they are re- 
ferred to the frequent exhibition of duels and of Lynch law. 
When they insist upon the prevalence among us of strict 
integrity, sound morals, and extensive piety, they are shown 
an American newspaper, which probably contains the an- 
nunciation of half a dozen thefts, robberies, embezzlements, 
horrid murders, and appalling suicides. 

" Burns, the eminent Scotch poet, seems to have believed 
that good would result 

" ' If Providence the gift would gie us, 
To see ourselves as others see us.' 

If we had this gift, much of our overweening vanity would 
H 2 



90 THE SCHOOL AND 

doubtless be repressed, and many would seriously ponder 
on the means of reformation and improvement. 

" But that any great improvement can be made upon the 
moral propensities of the adults of the present day is not to 
be expected. The raw material of humanity, after being 
even partially neglected for twenty years, generally bids 
defiance to every manufacturing process. 

" The moral education — that is, the proper discipline of the 
dispositions and affections of the mind, by which a reverence 
for the Supreme Being, a love of justice, of benevolence, and 
of truth are expanded, strengthened, and directed, and the 
conscience enlightened and invigorated, must have its basis 
deeply and surely laid in childhood. Truth, in the impor- 
tant parts of moral science, is most easily taught, and makes 
the most indelible impressions in early life ; before the in- 
fusion of the poison of bad example ; before false notions 
and pernicious opinions have taken root ; before the under- 
standing is blunted and distorted by habit, or the mind cloud- 
ed by prejudice." 

The length to which this quotation has extended will 
hardly be regretted by our readers ; and it prepares us to en- 
ter at once on the last topic which remains to be discussed 
in this chapter, viz., The Importance of Education. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 91 



SECTION VI. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION. 

I. TO THE INDIVIDUAL. 

" "VMiat is a man 
If his chief good and market of his time 
Be but to sleep and feed 1 — a beast, no more. 
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse, 
Looking before and after, gave us not 
That capability and godhke reason 
To rust in us unused." — Shakspeare. 
" Men generally need knowledge to overpower their passions and 
master their prejudices ; and, therefore, to see your brother in ig- 
norance is to see him unfurnished to all good works ; and every mas- 
ter is to cause his family to be instructed, every governor is to in- 
struct his charge, every man his brother, by all possible and just pro- 
visions. For if the people die for want of knowledge, they who are 
set over them shall also die for want of charity." — Jeremy Taylor. 

It may be proper to remind the reader, that by education, 
we understand a system of training and instruction, which 
aims at the due culture of all the powers of the souJ, both 
intellectual and moral. We shall be the better prepared, to 
appreciate the necessity and importance of such culture, if 
we consider that, in its absence, the individual will be edu- 
cated by circumstances. Even when he is most neglected, 
there will still be companions, parents, or masters, daily oc- 
currences, and other causes, both physical and moral, which 
will act forcibly upon some of his powers to develop and ex- 
cite them. But wliich of his powers will these be ? When 
parents do not take the trouble to provide for the proper edu- 
cation of their children, it must be ob\dous that neither their 
example, nor the associations with which they will surround 
those children, whether in high or low life, will be likely to 
foster their better and purer sentiments. Add to the force 



92 THE SCHOOL AND 

of natural propensity, the sensualizing influences wliich in 
such cases will inevitably be applied from without to the 
young and plastic mind, and what can be expected 1 

Beyond a doubt, whatever this little being has in com- 
mon with animals will be cherished and strengthened ; 
whatever he has in common with angels of light and purity 
will be repressed and stifled. The gratification of his lower 
appetites will be predominant among the objects of his de- 
sire ; and as these appetites are essentially selfish, he will 
become less and less regardful of the claims of justice and of 
charity. He may improve in cunning, in the readiness with 
which he invents and the pertinacity with which he em- 
ploys expedients to compass his base ends ; but he will have 
less and less of true wisdom. When sorely pressed by 
danger or difficulty, he will show that he is not unacquaint- 
ed with moral distinctions ; but then the dexterity with 
which he tries to make the worse appear the better reason, 
and the facility with which he invents specious apologies 
for the worst acts, these will show, too, that in his mind 
the light has emphatically become darkness, and that even 
his highest faculties are little better than panders to his 
lowest appetites. 

An ignorant, uncultivated mind, then, is the native soil of 
sensuality and cruelty, and the whole history of the world 
proves, that in a large proportion of instances, it does not 
fail to bring forth its appropriate fruit. In what countries, 
are the people most given to the lowest forms of animal 
gratification, and also most regardless of the lives and hap- 
piness of others 1 Is it not in pagan lands, over which 
moral and intellectual darkness broods, and where men are 
vile without shame, and cruel without remorse ? If from 
pagan we pass to Christian countries, we shall find that 
those in which education is least prevalent are precisely 
those in which there is the most immorality, and the great- 
est indifference to the sufferings of sentient and animated 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 93 

beings. Spain, in which, until recently, there was but one 
newspaper, and in which not more than one in twenty of 
the people are instructed in schools, has a population about 
equal to that of England and Wales. What is the relative 
state of morals ? In England and Wales the whole num- 
l)er of convictions for murder in one year (1826) was thir- 
teen, and the number convicted of wounding, &c., with in- 
tent to kill, was fourteen, while in Spain the niunber con- 
victed during the same year was, for murder, twelve hundred 
and thirtty-three ! and for maiming with intent to kill, seven- 
teen hundred and seventy-three* 

* I add an extract from a late traveller (Inglis) on the state ol 
manners and morals. " If vice degrade the manners of the upper 
and middle classes in Seville, crime of a darker turpitude disfigures 
the character and conduct of the lower orders. Scarcely a night 
passes ^vithout the commission of a murder. But. these crimes are 
not perpetrated in cold blood from malevolent passions, still less 
from love of gain ; they generally spring from the slightest possible 
causes. The Andalusian is not so abstemious as the Castilian, and 
the wine he drinks is stronger ; he has also a great propensity for 
gambling, the fruitful engenderer of strife ; and the climate has, 
doubtless, its influence upon his passions. ' WiU you taste with 
me1' an Andalusian will say to some associate with whom he has 
had some slight difference, offering him his glass. ' No gracias,' 
the other will reply. The former, already touched with wine, will 
half drain his glass, and present it again, saying, ' Do you not wish 
to drink with mel' and if the other still refuses the proffered civil- 
ity, it is the work of a moment to drain the glass to the dregs, to 
say, ' How ! not taste with me V and to thrust the knife an Andalu- 
sian always carries with him into the abdomen of the comrade who 
refuses to drink with him. It is thus, and in other ways equally 
simple, that quarrel and murder disfigure the nightly annals of ev- 
ery town in Andalusia, and of the other provinces of the south of 
Spain. There is an hospital in Seville dedicated to the sole purpose 
of receiving wounded persons. I had the curiosity to visit it, and 
ascertained that, during the past fourteen days, twenty-one persons 
had been received into the hospital wounded from stabs ; they would 
not inform me how many of these had died." — Spain in 1830, vol. 
ii.. p. 56. 



94 THE SCHOOL AND 

We cannot be surprised that, in such a land, scenes of 
cruelty and blood should constitute the favourite amusement 
of the people. Their gTcatest delight is in bullfights ; 
" and how," says an eyewitness, " do the Spaniards con- 
duct themselves during these scenes ? The intense inter- 
est which they feel in this game is visible throughout, and 
often loudly expressed ; an astounding shout always ac- 
companies a critical moment: whether it be the bull or 
man who is in danger, their joy is excessive; but their 
greatest sympathy is given to the feats of the bulk If the 
picador receives the bull gallantly, and forces him to re- 
treat, or if the matador courageously faces and wounds the 
bull, they applaud these acts of science and valour ; but if 
the bull overthrow the horse and his rider, or if the mata- 
dor miss his aim and the bull seems ready to gore him, 
their delight knows no bounds. And it is certainly a fine 
spectacle to see the thousands of spectators rise simulta- 
neously, as they always do when the interest is intense ; 
the greatest and most crowded theatre in Europe presents 
nothing half so imposing as this. But how barbarous, how 
brutal is the whole exhibition ! Could an English audi- 
ence witness the scenes that are repeated every week in 
Madrid 1 A universal burst of ' shame !' would follow the 
spectacle of a horse gored and bleeding, and actually tread- 
ing upon his ovm entrails while he gallops round the are- 
na : even the appearance of the goaded bull could not be 
borne ; panting, covered with wounds and blood, lacerated 
by darts, and yet brave and resolute to the end. 

" The spectacle continued two hours, and a half, and 
during that time there were seven bulls killed and six 
horses. When the last bull was despatched, the people 
immediately rushed into the arena, and the carcass was 
dragged out amid the most deafening shouts." — Spain in 
1830, vol. i., p. 191. 

In another passage, the same writer, after describing a 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 95 

fight, in wliich one bull had killed three horses and one 
man, and remained master of the arena, adds, " This was a 
time to observe the character of the people. When the 
unfortunate picador was killed, in place of a general excla- 
mation of horror and loud expressions of pity, the unit«'ersal 
cry was ' Que es bravo ese toro !' (' Ah ! the admirable 
bull !'). The whole scene produced the most unbounded 
delight; and I did not perceive a single female avert her 
head, or betray the slightest symptom of wounded feeling." 

How different is the spirit and character developed by a 
proper system of education. Discipline gives its subjects 
command over their passions, and instead of a love for vi- 
cious excitement, cultivates the taste for simple and inno- 
cent pleasures. Objects higher than any gratification mere- 
ly animal awaken desire ; objects in the pursuit of which 
the faculties find a healthful and agreeable employment, 
and the individual, though intent on liis own advantage, still 
serves the commimity. His charities, too, are enlarged and 
strengthened. From a mere clald of impulse, he is trans- 
formed into a reflective being, looking before and after with 
large discourse of reason. He forms plans for a distant 
future, and thus rises nearer and nearer to a spiritual exist- 
ence ; while, divested of no sentiments or principles which 
the Creator has bestowed upon him, all are still made to 
occupy their proper places, and to move together in subor- 
dination to the great ends of his being. 

It is to be observed here, again, that we mean by educa- 
tion a large and generous culture, which comprehends the 
whole man, and which assigns, therefore, the first place to 
the immortal nature. We would never forget, that there may 
be much know^ledge and much discipline of the intellectual 
powers, which leaves, in darkness and sin, the moral and 
spiritual man. Such education we repudiate. Instead of 
a narrow and partial training, which would make its subject 
a monster rather than a man ; we go for one which would 



96 THE SCHOOL AND 

build up that subject to the perfection which corresponds to 
his nature and position. 

And let us add, if mere knowledge cannot make men 
wise, much less can ignorance. Her appropriate office is 
not to improve, but to deteriorate and degrade. It has been 
said that " ignorance is the mother of devotion." It would 
have been much nearer truth, to represent her as the parent 
of a dark idolatry, which bows the spirit to an abject but 
imholy service, and robs it of its noblest instincts. This 
has been well put in an old allegory of the days of Bimyan. 
ApoUyon invades the country of Nonage, and, in order to 
accomplish more fully his designs, resolves "that a great 
part of the weak and feeble inhabitants should be tutored 
by Mrs. Ignorance." Accordingly, accosting that person- 
age, he says, " My dear cousin and friend, I have a great 
number of pretty boys and girls for you to tutor and bring 
up for me : will you undertake the charge ?" " Most dread 
and mighty ApoUyon," she replies, "you know I never 
yet declined any drudgery for you which lay in my power." 
ApoUyon then, after complimenting her upon what she had 
already done for the advancement of his kingdom and great- 
ening of his power in the world, turns to his associate and 
says, " Noble Peccatum (Sin), this gentlewoman, Madam 
Ignorance, is your child, your natural offspring, your own 
flesh and blood ; therefore I charge you to help and assist 
her in this great work ; for I should be glad if she had the 
education of all the children in the whole world." 

The influence of education, on happiness, is also worthy 
of deep consideration. Man has been supplied with va- 
rious desires, sensual, intellectual, and moral ; some prompt- 
ing him to serve others, and some to benefit himself, but all 
intended to yield him happiness. Education enlarges the 
capacity for enjoyment, of each of these desires. Even his 
sensual appetites need the guidance of knowledge to keep 
them from excess, while they are refined and elevated by 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 97 

the cultm-e of liis other powers. And tlien that brood of 
hopes and fears which must always cluster round man's 
heart — taking him out of the present, and in some sort 
compelling him to live and labour for an unseen future — 
liow these are all rectified and enlightened by knowledge 
and culture. Imagination, chastened and regulated, no lon- 
ger fills the view Avith lying spectres of horror or delusive 
anticipations of bliss. She becomes the handmaid of the un- 
derstanding and the heart. The mind is steadied ; its vision 
purged and enlarged. It sees objects as they are, neither 
magnifying our blessings nor multiplying our sorrows.* 
Hopes are built on a solid and rational foundation, and fear, 
which to so many is the disease of the soul,t making more 

* " Wisdom makes all the troubles, griefs, and pains incident to 
life, whether casual adversities or natural afflictions, easy and sup- 
portable, b)' rightly valuing the importance and moderating the in- 
fluence of them. It suffers not busy fancy to alter the nature, am- 
plify the degree, or extend the duration of them, by representing 
them more sad, hea\^', and remediless than they truly are. It allows 
them no force beyond what naturally and necessarily they have, nor 
contributes nourishment to their increase. It keeps them at due 
distance, not pennitting them to encroach upon the soul, or to prop- 
agate their influence beyond their proper sphere. — Dr. Barrow." 

t "Ignorance," says a -vrnter, "can shake strong sinews with 
idle thoughts, and sink brave hearts with light sorrows, and doth 
lead innocent feet to impure dens, and haunts the simple rustic with 
credulous fears, and the swart Indian with that more potent magic, 
under which spell he pines and dies. And by ignorance is a man 
fast bound from childhood to the grave, till knowledge, which is the 
revelation of good and evil, doth set him free." 

Among the numberless superstitions which have been dissipated 
by science, may be instanced the Spectre of the Brocken, which had 
appeared from time to time, near the Hartz Mountains in Germany 
This was a gigantic figure, seen indistinctly in the heavens, in form 
always resembUng a human being, and the appearance of which waa 
regarded, for ages, as a certain indication of approaching misfortune. 
At length a celebrated philosopher (Abbe Haiiy) determined to in- 
vestigate this apparition. After ascending the mountain ihirti' 
I 



98 THE SCHOOL AND 

danger than it avoids, becomes, to a well-trained and en- 
lightened mind, the instrument of caution rather than anx- 
iety — ^" a guard, not a torment, to the breast." It is suffi- 
ciently vigilant in anticipating and guarding against earthly 
evils, but the loss of immortality is the object of its supreme 
dread. " It is fixed," to use the language of South, " on 
Him who is only to be feared, God ; and yet with a filial 
fear, which at the game time both fears and loves. It is 
awe without amazement — dread without distraction. There 
is a beauty in its very paleness, giving a lustre to rever- 
ence and a gloss to humility." 

In estimating the happiness to be derived from educa- 
tion, let us not overlook the vast addition which may thus 
be made to domestic and social enjoyments. Without the 
facts and ideas which are supplied by reading, how meager 
and spiritless would conversation prove ! In rearing chil- 
dren, and in the difficult task of making home pleasant and 
attractive, books form an unfailing resource, and many who 
now waste life and talent in a round of harassing dissipa- 
tions or in low vice, might have been both happy and use- 
ful, if they had early imbibed a taste for good books. 

It is worthy of consideration, too, that the highest and 
purest pleasiu'es to be derived from gratifying curiosity, are 
confined to cultivated minds, which are intent on truth ra- 
ther than novelty, and which look beyond mere facts and 
events, to their causes and reasons.* The vague interest 

times, he at last saw it, and soon discovered that it was nothing but 
his own shadow cast upon clouds. " When the rising sun," says 
he, " throws his rays over the Brocken upon the body of a man 
standing opposite to fleecy clouds, let him fix his eye steadfastly 
upon them, and in all probability he will see his own shadow ex- 
tending the length of five or six hundred feet, at the distance of 
about two miles from him." 

* " How charming is divine philosophy ! 

Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, 
But musical as is Apollo's lute, 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 99 

with vvliicli the ignorant look on the beauties and sublimi- 
ties of nature — how much inferior is this, to that intelligent 
and ever-new delight, Avith which the well-informed and cu- 
rious mind traces these same objects as parts of a great 
system of law and order, resplendent as well with moral as 
with material charms. A poet has asked, 

And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets. 
Where no crude surfeit reigns." 

Milton's Comus. 

" It is not the eye that sees the beauties of heaven, nor the ear that 
hears the sweetness of music, or the glad tidings of a prosperous 
accident, but the soul that perceives all relishes of sensual and in- 
tellectual perfections ; and the more noble and excellent the soul is, 
the greater and more savoury are its perceptions." — Bishop Taylob. 

" The pleasure and delight of knowledge and learning far surpass- 
eth all other in nature ; for shall the pleasures of the affections so 
exceed the pleasures of the senses, as much as the obtaining of de- 
sire or victory exceedeth a song or a dinner 1 and must not, of con- 
sequence, the pleasures of the intellect or understanding exceed the 
pleasures of the affections 1 We see in all other pleasures there is 
a satiety, and after they be used their verdure dcparteth ; which 
showeth well they be but deceits of pleasure, and not pleasure, and 
that it was the novelty which pleased, and not the quality ; and 
therefore we see that voluptuous men turn friars, and ambitious 
princes turn melancholy ; but of knowledge there is no satiety, but 
satisfaction and appetite are ever interchangeable, and therefore 
appeareth to be good in itself simply, without fallacy or accident. 
Neither is that pleasure of small efficacy and contentment to the 
mind of man, which the poet Lucretius describeth elegantly : 

" ' Suave marl magno, turbantibus aequora ventis,' &c. 

" ' It is a view of delight,' saith he, ' to stand or walk upon the 
shore side, and to see a ship tossed with tempest upon the sea, or to 
be in a fortified tower, and to see two battles join upon a plain. 
But it is a pleasure incomparable for the mind of man to be settled, 
landed, and fortified in the certainty of truth, and from thence to 
descry and behold the errors, perturbations, labours, wanderings up 
and down of other men' — so always that this prospect be with pity, 
and noi with swelling or pride." — Lord Bacon. 



100 THE SCHOOL AND 

" Do not all charms fly 
At the mere touch of cold philosophy ] 
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven : 
We know her woof and texture ; she is given 
In the dull catalogue of conunon things. 
Philosophy will clip an angel's wings, 
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line, 
Einpty the haunted air and gnomed mine. 
Unweave a rainbow :" 

Let another poet (Akenside) answer : 

" Nor ever yet 
The melting rainbow's vernal tinctured hues 
To me have shone so pleasing, as when first 
The hand of science pointed out the path 
In Avhich the sunbeams, gleaming from the west. 
Fall on the watery cloud :" 
So Wordsworth : 

" My heart leaps up when I behold 
A rainbow in the sky : 
So Avas it when my life began, 
So is it now I am a man, 
So be it when I shall grow old," &c. 
To those who imagine that the progi-ess of knowlecVs 
may be mifavourable to enjoyment, by dispelling ilhisions 
and mysteries, it may be sufficient to remark, that science 
dispels one mystery only to encounter another and a high- 
er one. Whatever pleasure, therefore, can be derived from 
obscurity, is enjoyed in common by the educated and un- 
educated ; while the fonner has the additional satisfaction 
of discovering some of the links in the long chain of causes, 
and of combining an admiration which reasons and under- 
stands, with one which can only wonder and adore. 

I cannot close this branch of the subject without advert- 
ing to the influence which education has on our usefulness 
and success in life. The practice of holding up, before the 
young, the prospect of a vulgar, worldly success as the 
great motive to study, I have already condemned ; and I 
want words to express my deep conviction of its dangejf 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 101 

and folly. But it would be a grievous omission, to over- 
look, on the other hand, the intimate connexion which 
does subsist, between knowledge and culture, as cause, and 
the capacity to act wisely and successfully, as effect. We 
all know, how perfectly fettered and helpless a man is, in 
the present state of the world, who cannot read and write ; 
and yet these mechanical accomplishments are but the 
means to education, rather than education itself. Educa- 
tion, properly understood, aims not merely to qualify a man 
to read and write letters, to look over newspapers, and to 
keep accounts ; it aims to make him a thoughtful and re- 
flecting being ; to habituate him* to the systematic applica- 

*• The effects of a deficiency of education on success in mechan- 
ical pursuits is strikingly illustrated in the evidence recently given 
by an intelligent engineer, accustomed to employ many hundred 
workmen of different nations (Mr. A. G. Escher, of Zurich), before 
the British Poor-Law Conunissioners. He says, these " effects are 
most strongly marked in the Italians, who, though with the advan- 
tage of greater natural capacity than the English, Swiss, Dutch, or 
Germans, are still of the lowest class of worlmien. Though they 
comprehend clearly and quickl}', as I have stated, any simple prop- 
osition made or explanation given to them, and are enabled quickly 
to execute any kind of work when they have seen it performed 
once, yet their minds, as I imagine, /rom icant of development by train- 
ing or school education, seem to have no kind of logic, no power of sys- 
tematic arrangement, no capacity for collecting any series of observa- 
tions, and mailing sound inductions from the whole of them. This 
want of capacity of mental arrangement is shown in their manual 
operations. An Italian will execute a simple operation with great 
dexterity ; but when a number of them are put together, all is con- 
fusion. For instance : within a short time after the introduction of 
cotton-spinning into Naples in 1830, a native spinner would produce 
as much as the best English workman ; and yet, up to this time, not 
one of the Neapolitan operatives is advanced far enough to take the 
superintendence of a single room, the superintendents being all 
Northerns, who, though less gifted by nature, have had a higher de- 
gree of order or arrangement imparted to their minds by a superior 
education." — See last Report of Poor-Law Commissioners. 
12 



302 THE SCHOOL AND 

tion of his powers to the production of useful results ; to 
render his mind active and enterprising, by storing it with 
ideas ; and to give him power over the world of mind and 
matter, by teaching him the laws to which they are subject- 
ed. In bestowing on all men mind, and then allotting to 
most of them a life of labour and care, God has plainly 
taught us, that even the handicraftsman is to work with his 
intellect and his heart, rather than with his muscles. Ev- 
ery occupation, even the humblest and simplest, requires 
skill, &nA. skill requires some training and instruction. Ev- 
ery occupation may be made more easy, as well as more 
productive, if the labourer imderstands his own powers, and 
the properties of the objects with which he deals ; and it 
will be certain to be more pleasant, too, if his mind is 
cheered while he is at work with pleasant and profitable 
thoughts, and with the consciousness that he lives as be- 
comes an intelligent being. And while education thus 
tends to make the labourer a more happy as well as a more 
efficient producer ; to add to his own enjoyments while he 
is himself adding to the sum of purchaseable enjoyments 
in the world ; it tends, also, to make him more provident. 
The ignorant are usually wasteful ;* and when not so, they 

* Those who have conversed familiarly with the very poor, and 
especially with the inmates of poorhouses and workhouses, must 
have discovered the entire absence among them of that ■prudential 
wisdom which is the result of education. " Out of sixteen paupers," 
says a late writer, " examined at the Workhouse of the Union in Fa- 
versham (Eng.), only two had ever saved up so much as ten pounds, 
notwithstanding that several of them had been in the receipt, for some 
time, of from twenty to forty shillings a week ! and not one had ever 
kept any account of receipt and expenditure ! The being merely able 
to read makes little difference in this respect, for, in the number ex- 
amined, there were several who could do so. Indeed, the most pru- 
dent of the two who had saved had received no education. He had 
been a workman in the powder-mills at Faversham, and out of his 
wages of thirty shillings a week, had amassed a sum of 200/., which 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 103 

rarely form those plans of a snug and far-reaching econo- 
my, which combine present comfort and liberality. Avith a 
steady increase of wealth. 

The Chinese have a saying, that " by learning, the sons 
of the common people become great ; without learning, the 
sons of the great become mingled with the mass of the peo- 
ple." This remark is particularly applicable among that 
people, because, with them, all offices are bestowed accord- 
ing to talent and literary acquirement ; and there seems to 
be a settled design, to maintain an aristocracy of learning, 
instead of one founded on Avealth. But in every civilized 
country, and especially where there is any great degi-ee of 
liberty, knowledge and ^nental cultivation form the most cer- 
tain means of success.* Capital invested in the heart and 

he afterward lost by the failure of a bank. He bitterly regretted his 
want of education, which, he said, had prevented his embracing 
many opportunities that offered of bettering his condition, and com- 
pelled him to linish a life of industry in the workhouse, instead of 
occupying a respectable situation in society. Several others com- 
l.'lained that they had never been taught to look forward to the con- 
.sequences of their own acts. One man, a shoemaker, about twen- 
ty-eight years of age, who was in the house with his wife and five 
children, attributed his poverty and pitiable condition entirely to 
this cause. When asked if he did not calculate, before marrying so 
early, his means to support a wife and family, his answer was, ' No, 
sir — never gave it a thought — never thought of anything. You see, 
sir, we ain't used to look forward.' " — Sec A Papa; hy F. Liardet, 
Esq., on the State of the Peasantry iyi the County of Kent (Eng.), in 
the third volume of the Publications of the Central Society of Education. 
* On this point I quote again from Mr. Escher. Having been 
asked whether education would not tend to render workmen discon- 
tented and disorderly, and thus impair their value as operatives, he 
answers : " My own experience, and my conveisation with eminent 
mechanics in different parts of Europe, lead me to an entirely dif- 
ferent conclusion. In the present state of manufactures, where so 
much is done by machinery and tools, and so little done by mere 
brute labour (and that little diminishing), mental superiority, sys- 
tem, order, punctuality, and good conduct, qualities all developed 



104 THE SCHOOL AND 

head is better than a mere money capital, not simply because 
it is inalienable, but because it enables its possessor to avail 

and promoted by education, are becoming of the highest conse- 
quence. There are now, I consider, few enlightened manufacturers 
who will dissent from the opinion, that the workshops peopled with 
the greatest number of educated and well-informed worlcmen, will 
turn out the greatest quantity of the best work in the best manner." 

In another place he states that, " as workmen only, the prefer- 
ence is undoubtedly due to the English ; because, as we find them, 
they are all trained to special branches, on which they have had 
comparatively superior training, and have concentred all their 
thoughts. As men of business or of general usefulness, and as men 
with M'hora an employer would best like to be surrounded, I should, 
however, decidedly prefer the Saxons and the Swiss, but more es- 
pecially the Saxons, because they have had a very careful general 
education, which has extended their capacities beyond any special 
employment, and rendered them fit to take up, after a short prepar- 
ation, any employment to which they may be called. If I have an 
Enghsh workman engaged in the erection of a steam-engine, he will 
understand that, and nothing else." 

In regard to the moral effect of education, his testimony is ex- 
plicit and worthy of deep consideration : '' The better educated work- 
men, we find, are distinguished by superior moral habits in every 
respect. They are discreet in their enjoyments, which are more of 
a rational and refined kind ; they have a taste for much better society, 
which they approach respectfully, and, consequently, find much read- 
ier admittance to it ; they cultivate music, they read, they enjoy the 
pleasures of scenery, and, consequently, make parties for excursions 
in the country ; they are, consequently, honest and trustworthy." 
" The Scotch workmen get on much better on the Continent than 
the English, which I ascribe chiefly to their better education, which 
renders it easier for them to adapt themselves to circumstances, 
and especially in getting on better with their fellow- worlcmen, and 
with all the people with whom they come in contact." " The Eng- 
lish workmen are in conduct the most disorderly, debauched, and 
unruly, and least respectful and trustworthy of any nation whatso- 
ever which we have employed (and in saying this, I express the ex- 
perience of every manufacturer on the Continent to whom I have 
spoken, and especially of the English manufacturers, who make the 
loudest complaints). These characters of depravity do not apply to 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 105 

himself of the advantages of any position in which he may 
happen to be placed. The activity of his mind, the enterprise 
and forecast with which he forms plans, the readiness with 
which he avails himself of every opportunity — all will be 
proportionedjto the degree in which his mind has been de- 
veloped by culture. 

I have before me the history of two families — children of 
brothers, who occupied adjoining farms, and started in life 
with the same advantages. The one was blessed with an 
intelligent, high-principled wife, who was fond of books, and 
was always giving impulse and enlargement to the minds of 
her children. The wife of the other, though a worthy per- 
son, was ignorant and without cultivation. The result has 
been, that the sons of the latter are ordinary men, Avith tor- 
pid minds, and coarse tastes, though free from vice. The 
children of the other are full of a generous and useful activ- 
ity, and are all rising to stations of great respectability and 
influence. Some part of this diflference may doubtless be 
ascribed, to differences in the organization and natural en- 
dowments of these children. But it is believed that, had the 
same difference obtained in the education of children of the 

the English workmen who have received an education, but attach 
to the others in degree in which they are in want of it. "Wlien the 
uneducated English workmen are released from the bonds of iron 
discipline in which they have been restrained by their employers in 
England, and are treated with the urbanity and friendly feeling 
which the more educated workmen on the Continent expect and re- 
ceive from their employers, they (the English workmen) completely 
lose their balance ; they do not understand their position, and, after 
a certain time, become totally unmanageable and useless. The edu- 
cated. English workmen in a short time comprehend their position, and 
adopt an appropriate bchavioiir." The reader will find nmch similar 
testimony on these points, from various sources, in the same re- 
port. He is referred especially to the examination of William Fair- 
bam, Esq., a manufacturer of Manchester. — Sec Report to the Secre- 
tary of State for the Home Department, on the Training of Pauper 
Children, London, 1841. 



106 THE SCHOOL AND 

same parents, the result would have presented a conti-asl 
hardly less striking. 

Apprehension is often expressed, and no doubt felt, les4 
education should inspire a restless and discontented spirit — 
lest it should make men unhappy, under the toils and obscu- 
rity which always await the majority in every land. If, in 
educating people, we teach them, directly or indirectly, that 
the only use of knowledge is to enable them " to get along," or 
" to get up in the world," as it is termed ; if, in other words, ev- 
ery appeal is addressed to a sordid ambition, then, doubtless, 
such result will not be unlikely to follow. But let it be ob- 
served here, that there neither is nor can be, in this country, 
any such prevailing ignorance and nlental torpor as will keep 
the masses perfectly at rest, after the manner of older coun- 
tries, or as will prevent them from struggling to better their 
condition. Such multifarious and multitudinous incitements 
to activity surround them on every hand — so many examples 
of individuals rising rapidly from the humblest circumstances 
to wealth or influence, that they who are looking on, must 
be agitated with some desire to share in the same success. 
But whose minds are most likely to be unsettled by these de- 
sires ? Are they those of the educated, or those of the igno- 
rant and unreflecting ? Who are most likely to forget, that 
happiness is to be found, not in any measure of outward suc- 
cess or distinction, but in riding our own spirits, and in culti- 
vating a proper sense of our duties and privileges 1 Who is 
most likely to find, in his regular pursuits, however humble, 
as well as in his hours of leisure, that full and pleasant oc- 
cupation for his thoughts and faculties, which will render a 
feverish excitement from without, unnecessary and undesir- 
able ? It seems to me, that these questions carry with them 
their own answer. It can hardly be doubted that, the more 
fully the mind is stored with knowledge, and with resources 
of an intellectual and moral nature, the less is it likely to be- 
come restless or discontented ; that, Avhile education imparts 
higher and more refined tastes, it imoarts, at the same time. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 107 

the means of satisfying those tastes, without strugghng per- 
petually against the allotments of life, and the claims of oui 
station. 

But two causes can interfere with this, the natural order 
of things. The one may be found in the practice, so mon- 
strously absurd — would w^e could add, so rare — of teaching 
that education is useful only so far as it enables its possess- 
or to rise in the world — as if position were everything, and 
the soul nothing. The other is, that we restrict the bless- 
ings of knowledge, and of a taste for reading, to a small por- 
tion of those who spend their lives in labom- ; and by that 
means leave them without sympathy among their compan- 
ions, while we at the same time invest them with a distinc- 
tion which will not be unlikely to inflame their vanity, and 
which may' thus render them objects of envy and dislike. 
"VVe occasionally meet those, whom education does seem to 
have made unhappy ; because it has brought with it, to their 
minds, the mistaken notion that knowledge and talent are out 
of place in an humble sphere or in a life of labom- ; but we 
must remember, that they owe such unhappiness, not to edu- 
cation, but to an entire misconception of the end and use of 
education.* Those who suffer through education, or higher 

* " Already," says Howitt, in his Rural Life of England, " I know 
some who, through books, have reaped those blessings of an awaken- 
ed heart and intellect, too long denied to the hard path of poverty, 
and which render them not the less sedate, industrious, and provi- 
dent, but, on the contrary, more so. They have made them, in the 
humblest stations, the happiest of men ; quickened their sensibili- 
ties towards their wives and children ; converted the fields, the pla- 
ces of their daily toil, into places of earnest meditative delight — 
schools of perpetual observation of God's creative energy and wis- 
dom. 

" It was but the other day that the farming man of a neighbouring 
lady having been pointed out to me as at once remarkably fond of 
reading and attached to his profession, I entered into conversation 
with him, and it is long since I experienced such a cordial pleasure 
as in the contemplation of the character that opened upon me. He 



108 THE SCHOOL AND 

intellectual tastes, merely because they are deprived thereby 
of the sympathy of their associates, are more rare ; and they 

was a strong man, not to be distinguished by his dress and appear- 
ance from those of his class, but having a very intelHgent counte- 
nance ; and the vigorous, healthful feelings and right views that 
seemed to fill not only his mind, but his whole frame, spoke volumes 
for that vast enjoyment and elevation of character which a rightly- 
directed taste for reading would diffuse among our peasantry. His 
sound appreciation of those authors he had read — some of our best 
poets, historians, essayists, and travellers — u^as truly cheering, 
when contrasted with the miserable and frippery taste which dis- 
tinguishes a large class of readers." 

" I found this countryman was a member of our Artisans' Library, 
and every Saturday evening he walked over to the town to exchange 
his books. I asked him whether reading did not make him less sat- 
isfied with his daily work ; his answer deserves univereal attention. 
' Before he read, his work was weary to him ; for in the solitary 
fields, an empty head measured the time out tediously to double its 
length ; but now, no place was so sweet as the solitary fields ; he 
had always something pleasant floating across his mind, and the la- 
bour was delightful, and the day only too short.' Seeing his ardent 
attachment to the country, I sent him the last edition of the ' Book 
of the Seasons ;' and I must here give a verhatim et literatim extract 
from the note in which he acknowledged its receipt, because it not 
only contains an experimental proof of the falsity of a common alarm 
on the subject of popular education, but shows at what a little cost 
much happiness may be conveyed to a poor man. ' Believe me, 
dear sir, this kind act has made an impression on my heart which 
time will not easily erase. There are none of your works, in my 
opinion, more valuable than this. The study of nature is not only 
the most delightful, but the most elevating. This will be true in 
every station of life. But how much more- ought the •poor man to 
prize this study ! which, if prized and pursued as it ought, will ena- 
ble him to bear, with patient resignation and cheerfulness, the lot 
by ProAadence assigned him. Oh, sir, I pity the working man who 
possesses not a taste, for reading. 'Tis true, it may sometimes lead 
him to neglect the other more important duties of his station ; but 
his better and more enlightened judgment will soon correct itself in 
this particular, and will enable him, while he steadily and diligently 
pursues his private studies, and participates in intellectual enjoy- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 109 

all admit that, while this inconvenience may be charged in 
part to their own indiscretion, in not sufficiently cultivating 
those associates, it is overbalanced, on the other hand, a thou- 
sand times, by the inexhaustible fund of pleasure, which they 
find in books, and in the exercise of their reflective faculties. 
The remedy for these evils is obvious. In the first place, 
let all be so far educated, as to awaken a taste for reading 
and a desire for improvement, and knowledge will then cease 
to be a distinction, and can no longer make its possessor an 
object of emy. In the second place, let all be taught that 
education is given, not that we may buy a short-lived and 
doubtful success, but that we may have enlightened minds 
and improved hearts, and be better able to fill with dignity 
and pleasure the claims of any station, however lowly, and 
then contentment will prevail just in proportion as instruc- 
tion becomes more general and more thorough. How much 
wisdom is there in the following lines of Wordsworth — the 
most philanthropic as well as the most philosophical poet of 
our age — Avhose heart and fancy have always been among 
the poor, and who, at the same time, has looked with more 
than doubt, on many modern schemes for social improve- 
ment. He is speaking of the early years of his Wanderer ; 

" Early had he learned 
To reverence the volume that displaj's 
The mystery, the life which cannot die : 
\^n[iat wonder if his being thus became 
Sublime and comprehensive ! Low desires, 
Low thoughts, there had no place ; yet was his heart 
Lowly ; for he was meek in gratitude, 
Oft as he called those ecstasies to mind, 
And whence they flowed ; and from them he acquired 
Wisdom, which works through patience : hence he learned, 
In oft-recurring hours of sober thought. 
To look on nature with an humble heart, 

ment, to prize as he ought his character as a man, in every relative 
duty of life.'" 

K 



110 THE SCHOOL AND 

Self-questioned where it did not understand, 
And with a superstitious eye of love. 

So passed the time ; yet to the nearest town 
He duly went, with what small overplus 
His earnings might supply, and brought away 
The book that most had tempted his desires, 
While at the stall he read. Among the hills, 
He gazed upon that mighty orb of song, 
The divine Milton. Lore of different kind, 
The annual savings of a toilsome life, 
His schoolmaster supplied ; books that explain 
The purer elements of truth, involved 
In lines and numbers, and, by charm severe 
(Especially perceived where nature droops 
And feeling is suppressed), preserve the mind 
Busy in solitude and poverty. 

In dreams, in study, and in ardent thought, 
• Thus was he reared ; much wanting to assist 
The growth of intellect, yet gaining more, 
And every moral feeling of his soul 
Strengthened and braced, by breathing in content 
The keen, the wholesome air of poverty. 
And drinking from the well of homely life." 

The Excursion, b. L 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. IH 

SECTION vir. 

THE IMPORTAXCE OF EDUCATION (CONTINUED). 
n. TO SOCIETY. 

" Whether a wise state hath any interest nearer heart than the 
education of youth." — Berkeley's Querist. 

" WTien the clouds of ignorance are dispelled by the radiance of 
knowledge, power trembles, but the authority of law remains im- 
movable." — Beccaria. 

" Almost all the calamities of man, except the physical evils which 
are inherent in his nature, are in a great measure to be imputed to 
erroneous views of religion or bad systems of government, and 
these cannot be coexistent for any considerable tune with an ex- 
tensive diffusion of knowledge. Either the freedom of intelligence 
will destroy the government, or the government will destroy it. 
Either it will extirpate superstition and enthusiasm, or they will 
contaminate its purity and prostrate its usefulness. Knowledge is 
the cause as well as the effect of good government." — De Witt 
Clinton. 

Society may be regarded as a partnership. It is an ex 
tended system of co-operation, in Avliich every individual has 
a part to perform, and from which, in return for his efforts, 
each individual receives a greater amount of benefit than he 
could have attained, had he relied only on his own unaided 
and solitary exertions. It is the object of civilization or 
social progress, to increase these advantages, or, in other 
words, to enable individuals to obtain from society, with a 
given amount of eflbrt, a greater and greater amount of re- 
spiting benefit. Now, in regard to limited partnerships, 
which include but a small number of persons, nothing is 
more eAddent than that their success, and the success, of 
course, of each individual member, will be in exact propor- 
tion to the sagacity, integrity, and diligence with which 
each applies himself to liis proper duties. If all the part- 
ners are ignorant, idle, and unprincipled, bankruptcy and 



112 THE SCHOOL AND 

ruin must be the speedy result. If this be the character of 
some only of the firm, even then, hardly any amount of ef- 
fort and skill on the part of the remainder will prevent great 
losses ; whereas, should all devote themselves to business 
with singleness of purpose, and with intelligence and activ- 
ity, the result must be great prosperity. The application 
of these principles to the subject under considaraiioii is ob- 
vious. 

Let us consider society, in the first place, as a material 
partnership, or, in other words, as an association established 
merely for the production and accumulation of wealth. It is 
a truth often overlooked, but yet most unquestionable as well 
as most important, that the richest capitalist and the poorest 
labourer are joint proprietors in that great co-operative firm, 
through which, God ordains that man shall procure most of 
his blessings. A poor emigrant, who has just reached our 
shores, with no other means than his health and strong 
sinews, and who has skill but just sufficient to enable him 
to handle a pickaxe and shovel, is s.et at work in excavating 
a canal or grading a railroad. He knows nothing of the 
wealthy proprietor in New-York, who lives in luxury, and 
who wields his tens and hundreds of thousands in daily op- 
erations on 'change, and that proprietor knows still less of 
him. Yet it is no less true that they are partners — joint 
owners and managers of stock, in the same great company. 
Every dollar that the capitalist acquires by fair and legiti- 
mate business, goes to swell the facilities of the labourer, in 
getting employrnent, and in getting liberal remuneration for 
his services. It is by him, and others like him, that capi- 
tal is furnished, not only to construct public hnprovements, 
but to carry forward private undertakings of a useful and 
productive character. On the other hand, every blow 
which the labourer strikes, tends to enrich the capitalist. 
As he deepens and widens the canal, or grades the railroad, 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 113 

he contributes to cheapen and to accelerate the transit of 
those commodities, in which the capitaUst deals, thus en- 
abling him to extend his operations, and to increase his 
profits. And these are but examples. Take any two men, 
however remote from each other, within the limits of the 
state or of the Union, and no matter how dissimilar their 
pursuits, nor how unequal their apparent positions, they are 
still, if engaged in lawful callings, partners, — co-operating for 
their mutual benefit, and for the common benefit of all their 
associates, or, in other words, of all their fellow-citizens. 
Is it not, then, a matter of unspeakable importance, that each 
one should be qualified to perform his part, in the most effi- 
cient and useful manner 1 

After what we have advanced in previous sections, and 
especially in the last, it can hardly be necessary to insist 
that education does contribute most powerfully to render 
men more efficient both as producers and preservers of prop- 
erty. If properly conducted, it renders them, in the first 
place, more trustworthy, and thus multiplies the ways, in 
which they can be employed with profit to themselves, and 
with advantage to the community. In the second place, a 
labourer, whose mind has been disciplined by culture, works 
more steadily and cheerfully, and, therefore, more product- 
ively, than one who, when a child, was left to grovel in ig- 
norance and idleness. In the third place, such a labourer, 
having both knowledge and habitual activity of mind, is 
fruitful in expedients to render his exertions more diversi- 
fied and profitable* And while, in these several ways, ed- 
ucation contributes to swell the aggi-egate of values, pro- 

* Since I wrote this chapter, I have read, with great interest, the 
last report of the Hon. Mr. Mann, as secretary of the Massachu- 
setts Board of Education. During the last year he directed his at- 
tention to the relative productiveness of the labour of the unedu- 
cated, and of those who have had the advantages of a good common- 
school education ; and he gives the following as the substance of 
K2 



114 THE SCHOOL AND 

duced in a coinniunity in any given time ; it also secures, 
in the fourth place,* that these vakies, instead of being 

the answers which he has obtained from a number of the most in- 
telhgent manufacturers and business men of New-England. " The 
result of the investigation is a most astonishing superiority in pro- 
ductive power on the part of the educated over the uneducated la- 
bourer. The hand is found to he unuthcr hand when guided by an in- 
telligent mind. Processes are pertormed, not only more rapidly, but 
better, when faculties which have been cultivated in early life fur- 
nish their assistance. Individuals who, without the aid of knowl- 
edge, would have been condemned to perpetual inferiority of condi- 
tion, and subjected to all the evils of want and poverty, rise to com- 
petence and independence by the uplifting power of education. In 
great establishments, and among large bodies of labouring men, 
where all services are rated according to their pecuniary value ; 
where there are no extrinsic circumstances to bind a man down to 
a fixed condition, after he ha-s shown a capacity to rise above it ; 
where, indeed, men pass tiy eacn other, ascending or descending, in 
their grades of labour, iust as easilv and certainly as particles of 
water of different degrees of temperature glide by each other, there 
is it found as an almost invariable fact, other things being equal, 
that those who have been blessed with a good common-school edu- 
cation rise to a higher and higher point in the kinds of labour per- 
formed, and also in the rate of wages paid, while the ignorant sink, 
like dregs, and are always found at the bottom." 

*" From the accounts which pass through my hands," says M. 
Escher, "I invariably find that the best educated of our work-people 
manage to live in the most respectable manner at the least expense, 
or make their money go the farthest in obtaining comforts. This 
applies equally to the work-people of all nations that have come un- 
der my observations ; the Saxons, and the Dutch, and the Swiss, 
being, however, decidedly the most saving, without stinting them- 
selves in their comforts or failing in general respectability. With 
regard to the English, I may say, that the educated workmen are 
the only ones who save money out of their very large wages. By 
education, I may say, that I, throughout, mean not merely instruc- 
tion in the art of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but better general 
mental development ; the acquisition of better tastes, of mental 
amusements and enjoyments, which are cheaper, while they are 
more refined. The most educated of our British workmen is a 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 115 

wasted througli improvidence and vice, sliall be employed 
as instruments of reproduction, and thus become perma- 
nent sources of welfare and happiness. Nor ought we 
to omit, in this brief enumeration of the material advan- 
tages of education to society, that it tends both to multiply 
and to refine our artificial wants ; thus stimulating us, on one 
hand, to greater exertion in order to satisfy these wants, and 
shielding us, on the other, from those coarse temptations 
which tend to make men idlers and sots. 

Here is a truth which seems all but self-evident, and yet 
it is one, grievously neglected in the speculations of politi- 
cal economists, and in the measures of practical statesmen. 
Writers on Political Economy dwell much, on the importance 
of enlisting science in the service of industry ; but it is 
science confined for the most part to physics, and to be stud- 
ied by the proprietor or superintendent, rather than by the 
operative. So statesmen, especially in older countries, be- 
stow much time, and invent many fruitless expedients, in or- 
der to improve the condition of the working classes, at the 
very time that the intellectual and moral condition of those 
classes renders improvement next to impossible. 

Scotch engineer, a single man, who has a salary of 3/. a week, or 
1.50/. a year, of which he spends about the half; he lives in very 
respectable lodgings ; he is always well-di-essed ; he frequents read- 
ing-rooms ; he subscribes to a circulating library ; purchases math- 
ematical instruments, studies German, and has every rational en- 
joyment. We have an English workman, a single man, of the same 
standing, and who has the same wages, also a very orderly and so- 
ber person ; but, as his educaHion does not open to him the resources of 
mental enjoyment, he spends his evenings and Sundays in wine-houses, 
because he cannot find other sources of amusement which presup- 
pose a better education, and he spends his whole pay, or one half more 
than the other. The extra expenditure of the loorkman of laioer condi- 
tion, of 751. a yc^r, arises entirely, as far as I can judge, from the in- 
ferior arrangement, and the comparatively higher cost of the more sen- 
sual enjoyment in the wine-house.'" — Report of Poor- Law Commis- 
sioners. 



116 THE SCHOOL AND 

In all these matters we must begin at the beginning. 
We must remember, that mind forms the chief prerogative 
of man, and that he can never exercise his proper or most 
useful agency in any capacity, how^ever humble, unless that 
mind be cultivated by discipline and enlightened by knovirl- 
edge. England has neglected the education of her labour- 
ing population, and the consequence is, that the land swarms 
with paupers and vagabonds ; New-England, on the con- 
trary, from the first, made the intellectual and moral instruc- 
tion of every child a sacred duty, incumbent both on his 
parents and on the commonwealth ; and what was the re- 
sult ? " The first years of the residence of the Puritans 
in America," says Bancroft, " were years of great hardship 
and affliction ; yet it is an error to suppose that this short 
season of distress was not promptly followed by abundance 
and happiness. The people were, from the first, industri- 
ous, enterprising, and frugal, and affluence followed, of 
course. When persecution ceased in England, there were 
already in New-England ' thousands who would not change 
their place for any other in the world,' and they were tempt- 
ed in vain with invitations to the Bahama Isles, to Ireland, 
to Jamaica, to Trinidad." " One might dwell there from 
year to year, and not see a drunkard, or hear an t)ath, or 
meet a beggar.* The consequence was universal health, 
one of the chief elements of public happiness. The aver- 
age duration of life in New-England, compared Avith Eu- 
rope, was nearly doubled ; and the human race was so vig- 
orous, that of all who were born into the world, more than 
two in ten, full four in nineteen, attained the age of seven- 
ty ; of those who lived beyond ninety, the proportion," as 
compared with European tables of longevity, was still more 
remarkable." — -Sc^aBancroft, vol. i., p. 467. 

In order to appreciate these material and economical ad- 
vantages, which education confers on society, we may insti- 
* New-England's First Fruits, printed 1613. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 117 

tute various other comparisons. We may, for instance, 
compare New-England, with her free-schools and her uni- 
versal education, moving steadily and rapidly forward in 
wealth and population, in spite of a steril soil and an ungenial 
climate, and while destitute of all natural channels for in- 
land commerce — we may compare her, thus physically crip- 
pled, with other portions of our Republic to which nature has 
been more bountiful, but on which the light of general edu- 
cation has not shined, — and we shall at once perceive that 
such education is unspeakably more important than a luxu- 
riant soil, fine climate, or noble rivers. 

So, if we compare the largest manufacturing town of Eng- 
land (Manchester) with that which holds a corresponding 
place in our own country (Lowell) : in Manchester, full one 
third of all the children between the ages of five and fifteen 
receive no instruction at all in schools, while a large portion 
of the remaining two thirds attend schools of the most 
wretched description.* In Lowell, schools of a high char- 

* See Reports of the Statistical Society of Manchester on the 
State of Education. Also vol. i. of the Publications of the Central 
Society of Education, p. 292, &c. 

The following extracts will show the condition of many of them. 
*' Under the head of dame-schools are included all those in which 
reading and a little sewing are taught. This is the most numerous 
class of schools, and they are generally in a most deplorable condi- 
tion. The greater part of them are kept by females, but some by 
old men, whose only qualification for this eniploj-ment seems to be 
their unfitness for any other. Neither parents nor teachers seem 
to consider instruction as the principal object in sending the chil- 
dren to these .schools ; they, seem to regard them as asylums for 
mischievous and troublesome children." — " These schools are gen 
erally found in very dirty, unwholesome rooms, frequently in close, 
damp cellars, or old, dilapidated garrets." — " More than one half of 
them are used as dwelling, dormitory, and schoolroom, accommoda- 
ting, in many cases, families of seven or eight persons. Above 
forty of them are in cellars." — " Very few of the teachers of dame- 
schools allow the duties which they owe to their scholars to inter- 



118 THE SCHOOL AND 

acter, supported at the public expense, and under the super- 
vision of gentlemen of the first respectability, are open to all. 
Not only are parents anxious to send their children to these 
schools, but they are constantly urged to do it by the propri- 
etors themselves, who are convinced that they gain more 'by 
having their operatives educated than they can lose by hav- 
ing them absent from the mills, when children, during a por- 
tion of each year. 

The results of these opposite systems are such as we 
might anticipate. The operatives of Manchester are im- 
provident and immoral ; they are at war with their employ- 
ers ;* and multitudes of them are on the verge of beggary. 
The consequence is, that they consume almost as rapidly as 
they produce. In Lowell, on the other hand, " The factory 
operatives," to use the language of a late English traveller,! 
" form a community that commands the respect of the neigh- 
bourhood, and of all under whose observation they come. A 

fere with their household occupations." Very few of these schools 
were found to possess more than fragments of books ; and, in many 
cases, no books were to be seen, the childrcri depending for their instruc- 
tion on the chance of some one of them bringing a book, or a -part of one, 
from home. 

* " I have uniformly found," says H. Bartlett, Esq., of Lowell, " the 
better educated, as a class, possessing a higher and better state of • 
morals, more orderly and respectful in their deportment, and more 
ready to comply with the wholesome and necessary regulations of 
an establishment. And in times of agitation, on account of some 
change in regulations or wages, I have always looked to the most 
intelligent, best educated, and the most moral for support, and have 
seldom been disappointed. For, while they are the last to submit 
to imposition, they reason, and if your requirements are reasonable, 
they will generally acquiesce, and exert a salutary influence upon 
their associates. But the ignorant and uneducated I have generally 
found the most turbulent and troublesome, acting under the impulse 
of excited passion and jealousy." — See Report of the Secretary of the 
Massachusetts Board of Education for 1841. 

t A Visit to the United States in 1841, by Joseph Sturge. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 119 

considerable number of the girls are farmers' daughters, and 
eome hither from the distant states of Vermont and New- 
Hampshire, &.C., to work for two, three, or four years, when 
they return to their native hills, dowered with a little capi- 
tal of their own earnings. No female of an immoral char- 
acter could remain a week in any of the mills. The super- 
intendent of the Boott Corporation told me that, during the 
five and a half years of his superintendence of that factory, 
employing about nine hundred and fifty young women, he 
had known of but one case of an illegitimate birth — and the 
mother was an Irish ' immigrant.' Any male or female em- 
ployed, who Avas known to be in a state of inebriety, would 
be at once dismissed." 

We cannot be surprised to hear that such a community is 
eminently prosperous. " The average wages, clear of board, 
amount to about two dollars a week.* Many an aged fa- 
ther or mother, in the country, is made happy and comfort- 
able by the self-sacrificing contributions from their affec- 
tionate and dutiful daughter here. Many an old homestead 
has been cleared of its encimibrances, and thus saved to the 

* The average of women's wages in the departments requiring 
the most skill is $2 50 per week, exclusive of board. The average 
of wages in the lowest department is $1 25. To show the influence 
which education has on the earnings of the female operative, one 
of the directors of the large-st establishment at Springfield (J . K. Mills, 
Esq., of Boston) states that two thirds of those who are unable to 
write are employed in the lowest departme?it, and that their wages are 
lower by 66 per cent, than the wages of an equal number of the 
better educated class. He also states it " as his behef, that the best 
cotton-mill in New-England, with such operatives as these, who are 
unable to WTite their names, would never yield the proprietor a 
profit ; that the machinery would soon be worn out, and he would 
be left in a short time" with a population no better than one of six- 
ty-three persons which they had imported from England, and which, 
being destitute of education, proved to be unable to earn sufficient 
to pay for their subsistence. — See Report for 1841 of the Secretary of 
the Massachusetts Board of Education. 



120 THE SCHOOL AND' 

family, by llicse liberal and honest earnings. Of the depos- 
itors in the Lowell Institution for Savings, nine hundred 
and seventy-eight (being about one half of the whole num- 
ber of depositors) are factory girls, and the amount of their 
funds now in the bank is estimated, in round numbers, at 
one hundred thousand dollars, which is about one third of 
the whole amount on deposite. It is a common thing for 
one of these girls to have five hundred dollars in deposite, 
and the only reason why she does not exceed this sum is 
the fact that the institution pays no interest on any larger 
sum than this. After reaching this amount, she invests her 
remaining funds elsewhere." 

I might easily multiply proofs of this kind ; but I proceed 
to two most important conclusions which they seem to sug- 
gest, and which are worthy of deep consideration in this 
country. The first is, that education affords the most certain 
and effectual means of developing the industrial resources of 
a country, and promoting its growth and prosperity. Free- 
dom is doubtless indispensable to the largest development 
even of wealth ; but, unless it be combined with the diffu- 
sion of knowledge among the whole people, and with the 
refined tastes and orderly habits induced by education, it 
will often degenerate into vice and idleness, and will em- 
ploy itself, now in wasting property, and now in obstructing 
the best means for increasing it. So, again, much may bt 
accomplished by associations for the encouragement of 
manufactures and agxiculture, and much, too, by legislation 
so directed as to foster native enterprise, and protect the la- 
bour of our own citizens against the overwhelming compe- 
tition of foreigners. But these expedients are often tran- 
sient and irregular in their action ; and they also promote, 
too frequently, a spurious and premature gi'owth in some 
branches of industry, to the neglect of others equally im- 
portant. Render the people intelligent, frugal, and indus- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 121 

trious, by means of education, and there need, then, be no 
fear. They will find means to protect themselves. They 
will be equally ready to apply individual effort, the power 
of associated action, and the influence of wise and well-di- 
gested laws. In order to encourage native talent and en- 
terprise, and promote the amplest development of their re- 
sources, they will maintain all necessary restraints on 
freedom, but they will submit to none that are not neces- 
sary. What is yet more important, the inhabitants of each 
section of the country will be able to comprehend the ca- 
pabilities of their own position, and will be impelled to make 
the most of them.* 

* " It is a fact of universal notoriety, that the manufacturing pop- 
ulation of England, as a class, work for half, or less than half, the 
wages of our own. The cost of machinery there, also, is but about 
half as much as the cost of the same articles with us ; while our 
capital, when loaned, produces nearly double the rate of English in- 
terest. Yet, against these grand adverse circumstances, our man- 
ufacturers, with a small per centage of tariff, successfully compete 
with English capitalists in many branches of manufacturing busi- 
ness. No explanation can be given of this extraordinary fact, which 
does not take into account the difference of education between the 
operatives of the two countries." It follows, too, " as a most im- 
portant and legitimate inference, that it is our wisest policy, as citi- 
zens — if, indeed, it be not a duty of self-preservation as men — to im- 
prove the education of our whole people, both in its quantity and 
quality. I have been told by one of our most careful and successful 
manufacturers, that on suhstituting, in one of his cotto7i-mills, a better 
for a poorer class of operatives, he was enabled to add twelve per cent, to 
the speed of his machinery, without any increase of damage or danger 
from the acceleration.^' — Report of H. Mann for 1841. 

To the same effect is the opinion of Mr. Bartlett, of Lowell, from 
whom I have already quoted. " From my own observation and ex- 
perience," says he, " I am perfectly satisfied that the owners of man- 
ufacturing property have a deep pecuniary interest in the education 
and morals of their help ; and I believe the time is not distant when 
the truth of this will appear more and more clear. And, as compe- 
L 



122 THE SCHOOL AND 

I would suggest here, whether, in addition to a good 
general education, it is not important, at this time, that our 
youth should receive some special instruction, in the theory 
and processes of the various useful arts. In other coun- 
tries, great pains have been taken, for the last twenty years, 
to instruct young persons, intended for trades, in a knowl- 
edge of such branches of science and art, as are most near- 
ly related to those trades ; and also, to give them some ac- 
quaintance with general technology. Schools of arts and 
manufactures, agricultural seminaries, and institutions in 
which the children of the poor may be early trained to hab- 
its of industry, and to some skill in the rudiments of art, are 
now rapidly multiplying over Europe. On the Continent, in 
particular, they are much relied on, as among the most ef- 
ficient means of developing and perfecting the arts of indus- 
try, and of thus enabling the several governments to compete 
successfully with the immense skill and capital which Eng- 
land has invested in these arts, and by means of which, in 
connexion with her restrictive policy in trade, she has made 
herself, until recently, the workshop of the world. The 
states of Europe are now fast emancipating themselves 

tition becomes more close, and small circumstanees of more impor- 
tance in turning the scale in favour of one establishment over an- 
other, I believe it will be seen that the establishment, other things 
being equal, which has the best educated and the most moral help, 
will give the greatest production at the least cost per pound. So 
confident am I that production is affected by the intellectual and 
moral character of help, that, whenever a mill or a room should fail 
to give the proper amount of work, my first inquiry, after that re- 
specting the condition of the machinery, would be, as to the charac- 
ter of the heip ; and if the deficiency remained any great length of 
time, I am sure I should find mani/ who had made their marks on the 
pay-roll, being unable to write their names ; and I should be great- 
ly disappointed if I did not, upon inquiry, find a portion of them of 
u-regular habits and suspicious character." 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 123 

from this state of dependance, by cultivating their own re- 
sources ; and in doing this, they place great reliance on 
the improved education of their people, and especially on 
such education as will develop the industrial skill and talent 
which are now required. Is it not of the utmost importance, 
that a similar policy should be pursued in our own country ? 
A second conclusion, forced upon us by the views which 
we have now taken, is, that general education among a peo- 
ple forms the best preventive of pauperism. This is a dis- 
ease which, once ingrafted on the state, seems hardly to 
admit of remedy. It is the very cancer of the body poli- 
tic, and tends to reproduce and perpetuate itself, in the most 
insidious and inveterate manner. The only wise or effect- 
ual expedient, then, is to anticipate, and prevent it. To ward 
off such indigence as results from mental imbecility, and 
from those sudden and fearful reverses which Providence 
sometimes sends to teach us our frailty, is, of course, impos- 
sible ; but nearly nine tenths of all pauperism actually exist- 
ing in any country may be traced directly to moral causes, 
such as improvidence, idleness, intemperance, and a want of 
moderate energy and enterprise. Now it is hardly necessa- 
ry to add, that education, if it be imparted to all the rising 
generation, and be pervaded, also, by the right spirit, will re- 
move these fruitful sources of indigence. It will make the 
young provident, industrious, temperate, and frugal ; and 
with such virtues, aided by intelligence, they can hardly 
fail, in after life, to gain a comfortable support for them- 
selves and their families. I have already (p. 102, note) quo- 
ted one fact which confirms this position, and others, not 
less impressive and convincing, would be found in every 
almshouse in the world. Could the paupers of our own 
state be collected into one group, it would be found, I doubt 
not, that three out of every four, if not five out of every six, 
owe their present humiliating position, to some defect or 
omission in their early training. I annex, in a note, one 



124 



THE SCHOOL AND 



statement, which will show, how closely, pauperism and a 
defective education are related in England.* 



* The committee of the Central Society has been favoured by a 
gentleman connected with the Poor-Law Commission, with returns 
exhibiting the state of education among paupers above the age of 
sixteen, the inmates of workhouses in the two incorporated hun- 
dreds and ten unions in the county of Suffolk ; in the three incor- 
porated hundreds and twelve unions in the county of Norfolk, and 
the twelve unions in the eastern division of Kent. The number of 
paupers inchided in these returns is 2725, viz., 1323 men and 1412 
women, and the time when the information was collected was June, 
1837. 

Besides the distinction of sexes, the paupers are divided into 
three classes, viz., able-bodied, temporarily disabled, and old and 
infirm ; and it is stated, with reference to each class, how many can 
read in a superior manner, how miany can read decently, and how 
many imperfectly ; their acquirements in regard to writing are also 
given with the same gradations ; the number of paupers who can 
neither read nor write is next stated, and, lastly, the number of each 
class who had been the inmates of workhouses before the fonuation 
of the respective unions. 

The difference observable in these various respects between the 
paupers of the different counties is not so great as to require their 
being separately noticed ; and it will, therefore, be sufficient for the 
present purpose to present the result of the inquiry as though the 
whole were belonging to the same conununity. 



Number 
Number 
Number 
Number 
Number 
Number 
Number 
Number 
Number 



of each class in workhouses . 
who can read superiorly 
who can read decently . 
who can read imperfectly 
who can write superiorly 
who can write decently 
who can write imperfectly 
who can neither read nor write 
of inmates of workhouses before i 







Men 




Women. [ 




"k 


>. 




i 


= . 






.a 
1 


1 


li 


1 


.B 


u 




l61 


147 


1015 


508 


196 


698 




6 


7 


22 


26 


13 


14 




49 


46 


292 


149 


50 


174 




14 


21 


125 


106 


33 


99 




1 


2 


4 


4 


2 


1 




21 


39 


167 


43 


13 


44 




12 


2a 


113 


40 


30 


33 




86 


62 


544 211 


95 


404 




84 


90 


710 


235 


129 


513 



It cannot fail to strike every one who sees these figures, how ex- 
ceedingly small is the proportion of those persons who, having been 
so far instructed as to be able to read and write in a superior man- 
ner, are found to be inmates of the workhouse. Fluency in the art 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 125 

II. If, again, we consider society as ?i political and moral 
partnership, intended to protect its members in the enjoy- 
ment of their rights, and to enlarge their means of happi- 
ness and improvement we shall find education equally use- 
ful. Though its ostensible object should only be to im- 
prove the intellect, it will still be apt to operate benignly 
on the moral sentiments and habits, and will tend to make 
its subjects better men and better citizens. By its lessons 
and tasks it tends to substitute reflection and deliberative 
effort in place of mere impulse. By its discipline it con- 
tributes, insensibly, to generate a spirit of subordination to 
lawful authority, a power of self-control, and a habit of 
postponing present indulgence to a greater future good ; 
and, finally, by the knowledge which it communicates, it 
enlarges a child's conceptions of his true interests, and 
teaches him that forecast, self-restraint, and a correct moral 
deportment are indispensable prerequisites to success in 
life. The same effects must follow, in a much higher de- 
gree, when intellectual instruction has been combined with 
proper moral culture. We never expect, in such cases, 
that men will employ the power which education has given 
them, in injuring their country by violence or by more insid- 
ious means ; we expect to find them obedient to the laws, 
careful of the public welfare, judicious and exemplary in the 
management of their families, and upright and respectable 
in all their deportment. If they live under a popular form of 
government, where they choose their own magistrates, and 
have a controlling voice in legislation, we expect to find 

of reading, unaccompanied by proficiency in writing, affords no proof 
of adequate instruction. It would be more correct to say, that the 
absence of the latter acquirement is in itself evidence of the uncul- 
tivated condition of the mind. It will be seen that among the 2725 
paupers, included in the foregoing statement, only fourteen, or one 
in 19.5, could write well; and that if we add to the 1402 persons 
who can neither read nor write those who can read only imper- 
fectly, they make up just two thirds. 
L2 



126 THE SCHOOL AND 

them distiiij^iislied for enlightened attachment to their coim- 
try, and for the sagacity and honesty with which they ex- 
ercise their political powers. 

" It has been observed," says a judicious writer,* " that 
if the French had been an educated people, many of the 
atrocities of their revolution would never have happened ; 
and I believe it. Furious mobs are composed, not of en- 
lightened, but of unenlightened men ; of men in Avhom the 
passions are dominant over the judgment, because the judg- 
ment has not been exercised, and informed, and habituated 
to direct the conduct. A factious declaimer can much less 
easily influence a number of men who acquire at schools the 
rudiments of knowledge, and who have subsequently devo- 
ted their leisure to a Mechanics' Institute, than a multitude 
who cannot read or write, and who have never practised rea- 
soning and considerate thought. And as the education of a 
people prevents political evils, it effects political good. Do- 
mestic rulers well Itnow, that Imowledge is inimical to their 
power. This simple fact is a sufficient reason to a good 
and wise man to approve knowledge and extend it. The 
attention to public institutions and public measuies which is 
inseparable from an educated population, is a great good. 
We well know, that the human heart is such, that the posses- 
sion of power is commonly attended with a desire to increase 
it, even in opposition to the general weal. It is acknowl- 
edged that a check is needed, and no check is either so ef- 
ficient or so safe, as that of a watchful and intelligent public 
mind : so watchful that it is prompt to discover and expose 
what is amiss ; so intelligent that it is able to form rational 
judgments respecting the nature and the means of amend- 
ment.! In all public institutions there exists, and it is happy 

* Dymond: see Essays on the Principles of Morals, Ess. ii., 
chap. xiii. 

t A striking example of this powerful and salutary restraint on 
arbitrary power is thus noticed by a late traveller • " The victory of 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 1^ 

that there does exist, a sort of vis inertiae which habitually 
resists change. This, which is beneficial as a general ten- 
dency, is often injurious from its excess. The state of pub- 
lic institutions, almost throughout the world, bears sufficient 
testimony to the truth, that they need alteration and amend- 
ment faster than they receive it ; that the internal resistance 
to change is greater than is good for man. Unhappily, the 
ordinary way in which a people have endeavoured to amend 
their institutions, has been by some mode of violence. If 
you ask when a nation acquired a gi-eater degree of freedom, 
you are referred to some era of revolution, and probably of 
blood. These are not proper — certainly they are not Chris- 
tian remedies for the disease. It is becoming an undispu- 
ted proposition, that no bad institution can permanently stand 

intellect over the trammels of aristocracy has been powerfully ex- 
emplified within the space of sixty years, in the Protestant states of 
Germany. Constitutional governments they may not have secured ; 
forms of liberty they still want ; but the lethargy and servitude of 
mind which the olden dynasties had so rigorously cherished, have 
passed away through the one opening left to the freedom of the 
German people. They were permitted to read, and they had men 
to write. Imposts, oppressions, and the whole train of feudal be- 
quests have fled, one by one, before the minds emancipated and 
moulded by the newborn literature of the present century. The 
people have possessed themselves of the records of their ancient 
glory and independence. Midler, Goethe, and Schiller revived and 
immortalized the faded memory of foregone greatness, and gave im- 
perishable impulse to worthier and yet more fruitful influences. The 
press of Germany has achieved the freedom of more than was ever 
enslaved. The Prussian government, a nominal oligarchy, is 
among the most essentially popular of all the governments of Eu- 
rope. The people do not elect their representatives, but the gov- 
ernment, nevertheless, faithfully represents the people. They have, 
therefore, the substance without the outward form of freedom. 
This must not be attributed to any virtue inherent in irresponsible 
power. It is because the power of the Prussian government is re- 
sponsible to an educated opinion, an opinion of which it too thor- 
oughly partakes not to regard " — Londcm Athenaum, No. 748, p 148. 



128 



THE SCHOOL AND 



against the distinct opinion of a people. This opinion is 
likely to be universal, and to be intelligent only among an 
enlightened community." 

If this is everywhere true, it must be pre-eminently so, in 
a republic. In this country it has become almost a truism, 
that general education is indispensable, in order to qualify 
our people, for the discharge of their political and social du- 
ties. The vast responsibilities with which they are charged, 
are not to be duly met by means of any instincts, however 
powerful or generous. God has not given to man, as to 
the beasts of the field, blind but unerring impulses, which 
supersede all vigilance and painful effort, and which con- 
duct him by a path, never to be mistaken, to his true des- 
tiny. The people of this great Republic, have no more a 
native and inherent ability to exercise wisely the privilege 
of voting, than they have to predict Avithout instruction, and 
yet with unfailing precision, the return of a comet, or the 
occultation of some bright star in the heavens. All these 
are powers to be unfolded and enlightened by culture ; and 
the culture which qualifies a free people for their political 
duties must be generous and comprehensive, including the 
moral as well as the intellectual faculties, and aiming to make 
good citizens by first maldng good and enlightened men. It 
must be a culture which, though commenced at school and 
under the guidance of others, shall be subsequently pros- 
ecuted by the individual himself, and carried forward amid 
the cares of active life ; and which, if it would fulfil 
completely its high purposes, must never count itself to 
have apprehended. Wo to the people with democratic in- 
stitutions who shall forget or underrate this momentous truth.* 

* A late eloquent writer on Education in France (Girardin) has 
touched upon this truth with force : " Tlie best institutions," says 
he, " where the education of the people is not sufficiently profound 
and general to develop their principles, are only elements of disturb- 
ance cast into the bosom of society ; for they create wants which 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 129 

Already, to the provident and reflecting mind, does Ichabod 
seem inscribed on that land wliich forgets its own weak- 
ness, and which does not, with prayer to the God of na- 
tions, couple general and generous efforts to cultiA^ate mind, 
and to uphold in its midst the interests of truth and vir- 
tue. When such a land allows itself to be lulled to sleep 
by the siren song that the people cannot err, and that they 
have only to be left without restraint or guidance, in order 
to develop the greatest perfection of the social state — when 
this, the cant of demagogues, becomes the real creed of the 
people themselves, in their homes and their hearts, is it 
presumptuous to say that such a nation, so deceived and 
betrayed, must soon, however bright with promise now, 
be numbered among the republics that have been; that its 
name, at no distant dav will oe quoted only as a beacon, 
bv ^he ^lejuaiced to warn against all free institutions, and 
by the wise to prove the folly and peril of such institutions 
— when not based on intelligence and virtue.* 

they cannot satisfy ^aey are lavish of rights and duties ; they 
weak":, governments, which, by the multiplication of laws, render 
their execution impossible ; they concentre to excess in a few ar- 
dent minds those ideas which ought to be imperceptibly absorbed by 
the whole population. These ideas ferment and explode for want 
of vent. It is thus that institutions which produce more poivcr than 
they can usually employ, perish by the excess of that which it be- 
comes necessary to compress. — The instruction of the people en- 
dangers absolute governments ; their ignorance, on the contrary, 
imperils representative governments ; for the parliamentary debates, 
while they reveal to the masses the extent of their rights, do not 
wait till they can exercise them with discernment ; and when a 
people knows its rights, there is but one way to govern — to educate 
them." 

* One of the most striking proofs of the aid and support atforded 
to republican institutions by a good system of popular education, is 
presented by the democratic cantons of Switzerland. The condi- 
tion of the people is described by tourists as one of great social com- 
fort, great equality of condition, and, under all their peculiarities of 



130 THE SCHOOL AND 

The power of education is never displayed more striking- 
ly, than when it enters some community which has been 
hitherto deprived of it. Dr. Johnson has somewhere no- 
soil and climate, as one of singular prosperity. They seem to live 
like one great family rather than in the distinct relations of classes, 
demarcated and distanced by degrees of wealth and rank. "This 
intermixture of classes, however," says a traveller, " is wonderfully 
divested of the offensive familiarities which would infaUibJy arise from 
it in less educaled countries. Deferential respect is paid, perhaps, 
rather to age and moral station than to mere affluence ; but I have 
seldom witnessed any departure, from a tone and manner of affec- 
tionate courtesy, on the part of the poorer towards the higher class- 
es. This may, however, be mainly attributable to the habitual and 
kindly consideration, shown to the working classes, by their supe- 
riors. Whether this results from a higher religious sense of the 
duty of doing to others as we would be done by ; whether from nat- 
ural kind-heartedness, or whether from a knowledge of the power 
possessed by each man, merely as a man, in a country where they 
assemble round the fountain in the market-place, and select their 
law-makers after their own free choice and judgment, I know not ; 
but, be it from love or be it from fear, certain is it that a kindly feel- 
ing is evinced by employers to the employed in Northern Switzer- 
land, of which few other countries afford an example." 

After referring to the rapidity with which, owing to their general 
intelligence, this people overcame their deep repugnance to the in- 
troduction of cotton-mills and machine power, the same writer pro- 
ceeds to account for their happy social condition. " Switzerland is 
clearly indebted to the highly-educated, or, to speak more correctly, 
to the extensively-educated mind of her people, for her singular 
prosperity and advancement. Brilliant talents, or any eminent pow- 
ers of intellect, are very rarely found among the Swiss ; but for sound 
good sense, and general proficiency in the commoner branches of 
education, I do not think that there is a people equal to them. A 
family in one of the villages I visited in the canton of Zurich was 
pointed out to me as unusually disreputable, and I was cautioned not 
to take anything I saw there as a sample of the rest. One of the 
heaviest charges made against the conduct of the master was, that 
he had been repeatedly warned by the gemeindamman to send two 
of his children to school, who were turned of eight years old ; that 
he had proved so refractory that at length the stadtholder had been 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 131 

ticed the reformation of a parish in a very savage state, by 
the civilizing influence of a decayed gentlewoman, who 

infoiined of his conduct, and it was only when he found he was 
about to be fined that he compHed with the law." 

The effect of an improved and extended education on the inhab- 
itants' of Prussia is thus stated by Mr. Wyse, after a tour of jf ersonal 
inspection in that country : " What is the real social result of all 
this ! How has it affected the population for good or ill 1 How is 
it likely to affect them in future 1 The narratives given by Pesta- 
lozzi, De Fellenberg, Oberlin, and the Pere Girard. of the singular 
revolution, mental and moral, I may also add, physical, effected by 
the application of their system of teaching on a hitherto ignorant 
and vicious population, though admitted to be isolated experiments, 
ought not the less to be considered evidences of the intrinsic force 
of the instrument itself, and of its power to produce similar results, 
wherever and whenever fairly tried, without reference to country 
or numbers ; that is, whenever applied with the same earnestness, 
honesty, and skill in other instances as in theirs. And of this por- 
tion of Prussia — of the Rhenish provinces — it may be surely averred, 
that it has now been for some time under the influence of this sys- 
tem, and that during that period, whether resulting from such influ- 
ence or not, its progress in intelligence, industry, and morality, in 
the chief elements of virtue and happiness, has been steadOy and 
strikingly progressive. In few parts of the civilized world is there 
more marked exemption from all crimes of violence." "The 
same abstinence from offences against property is conspicuous." 
" Doubtless much of this most gratifying result may be ascribed to 
comfort and employment. But this, again, must be ascribed to some 
still higher cause. There is comfort, because there is frugality ; 
there is employment, because there is the desire, and search, and 
love of it. There is industry, incessant, universal, in every class, 
from high to low, because there are the early habits of useful occu- 
pation, and there are these habits because there is sound and gen- 
eral education." " The clergjman admitted that his flock had not 
become worse Christians for becoming more intelligent men ; the 
officer, that his men had grown more obedient as they had grown 
more inistructed : a word now led where a cane formerly was insuf- 
ficient ; the farmer for the increased profits of his farm, as the man- 
ufacturer for those of his factory, thanked the school. Skill had in- 
creased, and conduct had improved with knowledge — profits with 



132 THE SCHOOL AND 

came among them to teach school. It was a subject wor- 
thy of'liis pen. The world has recently witnessed a sim- 
ilar transformation, effected, in part, through the same means, 
by the Pastor Oberlin, on the Mountains of Alsace. No- 
thing could exceed the poverty, ignorance, and wretchedness 
which* prevailed among the peasants who composed his 
parish. The state of education in the principal village may 
be inferred from the character of their only schoolmaster. 
Oberlin's predecessor (M. Stouber),a man of like spirit, be- 
gan his efforts to improve the parish by inquiring into the 
state of instruction. Asking for the school, he was con- 
ducted to a miserable hovel, where there were a number 
of children crowded together, without occupation, and in so 
wild and noisy a state, that it was with some difficulty he 
could gain a reply to his inquiries for the master. " There 
he is," said one of them, as soon as silence could be ob- 
tained, pointing to a withered old man, who lay on a little 
bed in one corner of the apartment. " Are you the school- 
master, my good friend?" inquired Stouber. " Yes, sir." 
" And what do you teach the children ?" " Nothing, sir." 
" Nothing ! How is that ?" " Because," replied the old man, 
with characteristic simplicity, " I know nothing myself." 
" Why, then, were you instituted schoolmaster?" " Why, 
sir, I had been taking care of the Waldbach pigs for a great 

both. Even household management had reaped its advantage when 
the first vanity and presumption arising out of the partial nature ot 
instruction had worn off— when it had become general, sound, and 
appropriate ; the servant, especially the female servant, was not less 
faithful, and had become far more useful than before." It may not 
be improper to add, that the education of Prussia fits its subjects for 
the government under which they live, but wants that spirit of free- 
dom and self-reliance which would qualify them for a government 
like ours. The depreciating accounts which some recent travellers, 
such as Laing, have given of the state of morals in Prussia, is de- 
clared, by those who have had the best opportunities and the 
strongest disposition to judge impartially, to be without foundation- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 133 

number of. years, and when I got too old and infirm for that 
employment, they sent me here to take care of the chil- 
dren !" 

Under the superintendence of these wise and faithful 
men, good schools were established ; a liberal course of 
instruction Avas instituted ; religious influence was carefully 
and constantly applied ; and the industry and enterprise of 
the inhabitants fostered by the presence, counsel, and ex- 
ample of their pastor. The results were delightful, and, to 
most persons, amazing. In spite of all the physical disad 
vantages of their position, they became prosperous. Their 
manners were refined, their tastes elevated, population rap- 
idly increased, concord reigned among them, and they were 
alike intelligent and contented. Now the results produced 
in this humble district, by a wise system of education, have 
always followed, in other places, just in proportion as such a 
system has been introduced. Take the countries, in which 
the instruction of the people has made most progress during 
the last centur}', and it Avill be found that they are the very 
countries, in which the social and political condition of the 
inhabitants has most improved. The average length of hu- 
man life has materially increased ; there has been a great 
advance in the wealth and comfort of all classes ; while, at 
the same time, crime, mendicity, riots, and political tumults 
have greatly diminished. Indeed, so powerful is education, 
as a means of national improvement, that, to borrow the 
language of a late -writer, who has made an extended sur- 
vey, of the relative state of instruction and social welfare, 
in the leading nations of the world, " if the different coun- 
tries of the world be arranged according to the state of edu 
cation, they will also be found to be arranged, with few ex- 
ceptions, according to wealth, morals, and general happiness : 
and not only does this rule hold good, as respects a country 
taken as a whole, but it will generally apply to the differ- 
ent parts of the same country. Thus, in England, educa- 
M 



134 THE SCHOOL AND 

tion is in the best state in the northern agricultural district, 
and in the worst state in the southern agTicultural district, 
and the agricultural parts of the midland district ; while in 
the great towns and other manufacturing places, education is 
in an intermediate state ; at the same time, the condition of 
the people, and the extent of crime and violence among them, 
follow a like order P* 

I cannot refrain from placing on record one fact, as a 
farther confirmation of the latter part of this statement. It 
is derived from a chart, published a few years since in 
England, by Joseph Bentley, which professes to exhibit the 
moral condition, of the different counties of England, as 
compared with their means of education. In parallel col- 
umns, are placed the population, number of schools, number 
of libraries, number of literary and scientific institutions, 
number of places for the sale of intoxicating liquors, and, 
lastly, the number of criminal convictions within the year. 
I am well aware that the number of schools in a country is 
not a certain criterion of the proportion of the children i;n- 
der instruction, nor of the degree and quality of such in- 
struction. Still, it affords an approximation to the real 
state of education, and the best returns on this subject, 
considered as tests, are but approximations. The result to 
which I have referred, as gathered from these returns, is 
most striking ; it is this : If you take the four hest instruct- 
ed counties of England, as exhibited on this chart, and also 
the four worst insti'ucted, it will be found that the average 
amount of crime is almost exactly in the inverse ratio of the 
average amount of instruction.^ 

* See National Education, its Present State and Prospects, by 
Fred. Hill, in 2 vols., London, 1836. 

t The four best instructed counties in England, according to this 
table, are : 

Inhabitants. Inhabitants. 

Rutland, having 1 school to every 695, and 1 crim'l. conviction per ann. to eveiy 718 
Westminster, " " G96, " " " 2201 

Cumberland, " " 736, « " " 1101 

Middlesex, « " 747, " " « 415 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 135 

But, it may be asked, what charm is there about reading 
and \vTiting, that these should forthwith banish the propensi- 
ties to crime and vice ? " I am simple enough," says a late 
writer, " to believe that a man may be utterly ignorant of A 
B C, and yet be not given to cutting throats ; and wholly un- 
slvilled in the art of penmanship, and still have no bias in fa- 
vour of burglary. Nay, it is my deliberate opinion — mad as 
it may appear in these days of societies for the diffusion of 
horn-books and propagation of primers — that Mavor is no 
preventive to murder, nor Vyse any corrective of vice. And 
I cannot, by any course of reasoning, bring myself to per- 
ceive that an inability to read must be generally accompani- 
ed with a like inability to distinguish between right and 
wrong, as if the question of meum and tuum had more to do 
with Lindley Murray than morals."* 

Or an average of 

One school to every 701 inliabitants, and one criminal conviction to 1108 inhabitants. 

The four worst instructed counties are : 

Inhabitants. Inhlbilanls. 

Northampton, 1 school to every 1757, and 1 crim'l. conviction per ann. to every 601 
Dorset, " " 1435, " " " 610 

Somerset, " " 1427, " " " 393 

Hereford, " " 1366, " " " 596 

Or an average of 

One school to every 1501 inhabitants, and one criminal conviction to 550 inhabitants. 

* This passage is extracted from a work recently published in 
England, entitled, What to Teach, and how to Teach it so that the Child 
may become a wise and good Man. By Henky Mayhew. Part I. — 
The Cultivation of the Intellect. It contains many valuable 
suggestions in regard to the nature and end of education, stated, 
however, witli somewhat too much of flippancy, and with an unne- 
cessary parade of metaphysical learning. In his zeal to correct the 
prevalent error of putting reading and writing in place of real edu- 
cation, the author gravely proposes that we should first teach the 
pupil science, and then, as the last step, "add a hwivledge of read- 
ing, so that he may be able to trace the history and progress of it, 
which is extremely curious and interesting; and of nriting, so that 
he may be able (should he have it in his power, by any new discov- 
ery, to increase the general knowledge) to give that discovery to 
the world. We must recollect that, educationally, writing is the 
means of educating those who are absent and future; reading, the 



136 THE SCHOOL AND 

It seems hardly necessary to say, that these remarks are 
entirely irrelevant to the point now under discussion. We 
have insisted, throughout this volume, that we mean by edu- 
cation much more than the ability to read and write. We 
mean something, by which the pupil shall be taught to respect 
both himself and others ; to find pleasure in the cultivation 
of his intellectual powers, and to act habitually upon the im- 
pulse of liis higher sentiments. Why, then, it may be urged, 
do you insist so much, in your reasoning and statistical sur- 
veys, upon the proportion of criminals, &c.,who are imable 
to read and write 1 I answer, because, in treating of the 
state of education in a country, we must fix upon some index 
or exponent. Nothing is more indefinite than the term ed- 
ucation, nor than the thing signified by that term. It is to be 
presumed, however, in the present state of the world, when 
the means of education are so abundant, and when they are 
so easy of access even to the very poor, that children who 
have not been taught so much as to read and write, nave 
been neglected in other respects. Such children will be 
found, in a large proportion of instances, to have been train- 
ed to no regular occupation nor to any habits of industry, and 
to have grown up, in truth, without instruction of any kind. 
In referring, then, so constantly to reading and writing, we 
use them merely as signs, not as causes, and as negative 
rather than as positive signs. In other words, while we re- 
gard ignorance, of these simplest elements of knowledge, as 
proof that the education of the child has been greatly neg- 
lected, we do not regard a knowledge of them, as proof that 
that education has been properly cared for.* In the ab- 

means of being educated by. those who are absent and past ; and 
speaking, the means of educating those loJio are present ! /" 

* It is evident, however, that comparisons made on this princi- 
ple bear unjustly against education, or, rather, do not bear wilh suf- 
ficient force in its favour ; since they rank, as educated, many, who, 
though they can read and write, are yet destitute of the appropriate 
fruits of a sound and thorough education. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 137 

sence of any other criterion, more definite and tangible, we 
take the best which offers itself ; but we would always in- 
sist, most strenuously, upon the necessity of aiming, in edu- 
cation, at something vastly higher. It is of education, in this 
higher and more real sense, that we always speak through- 
out this work ; we maintain that it is a controlling power in 
society ; and we appeal to the fact that, in improving and ex- 
tending the education of a people, Ave invariably improve their 
social condition, as proof that this power is benignant, as 
well as great.* 

♦ " It is with grief," says M. Cousin, in his Report on the State 
of Education in Holland, " that I contemplate the mistaken zeal, the 
illogical reasoning of certain philanthropists, and even of certain 
governments, M'ho bestow so much pains upon prisons, and neglect 
schools : they allow crime to spring up, and vicious habits to take 
root, by the utter neglect of all moral training, and of all education 
in children ; and when crime is grown, and is strong and full of life, 
they attempt to cope with it ; they try to subdue it with the terror 
of punishment, or to mitigate it, in some degree, by gentleness and 
kindness. After having exhausted all their resources both of thought 
and of money, they are astonished to find that their efforts are vain ; 
and why ? because all they do is in direct opposition to common 
sense. To correct is very important, but to prevent is far more so. 
The seeds of morality and piety must be early sown in the heart of 
the child, in order that they may be found again, and be made to 
shoot forth in the breast of the man whom adverse circumstances 
may have brought under the avenging hand of the law. To edu- 
cate the people, is the necessary foundation of all good prison disci- 
pline. It is not the purpose of a penitentiary to change monsters 
into men, but to revive, in the breasts of those who have gone astray, 
the principles which were taught and inculcated to them in their 
youth, and which they acknowledged and carried into practice in 
former days, in schools of their infancy, before passion, and wretch- 
edness, and bad example, and the evil chances of life, had hurried 
them away from the faths of rectitude. To correct, we must ex- 
cite remorse and awaken the voice of conscience '; but how can we 
recall a sound that has never been heard ! How are we to revive 
a language that had never been taught ] I approve of, nay, I bless . 
Avith my whole heart, every kind of penitentiary ; but I conBidei 
M2 



138 THE SCHOOL AND 

It is alleged, however, that, notwithstanding the progress 
of education, crime and immorality increase. If the present 
be compared with any distant era of history, even the most 
brilliant, it will be found that the very reverse is true. In 
the reign of Elizabeth, for instance, of which Hume boasts 
that " learning had not then prostituted itself by becoming 
too common," England was covered with gipsies and ban- 
ditti, and every year, there were from three to four hundred 
executions for capital crimes. In Scotland, before the pa- 
rochial schools were established, and education made univer- 
sal, two hundred thousand vagrants, according to Fletcher 
of Saltoim, roamed over the land, living by pillage and beg- 
gary, and having " no regard or subjection either to the laws 
of the land, or even to those of God and Nature." What a 
change has since been wrought ! and who can doubt that, in 
producing it, education has been a most powerful, though 
certainly not the only cause ? It is not to be forgotten, that 
the causes which affect social welfare are various, and hence 
crime may for awhile increase, and civilization decline, 
even though education does advance ; not, however, because 
education is powerless, but because its influence is, for the 
time, overborne or counteracted by other agencies. 

Is it a truth, however, that crime and immorality do in- 
crease 1 Let us consider this question for a moment with 
regard to our own state ; and that we may limit the inqui- 
ry, let us speak only of crime in the technical or judicial 
sense. I remark, then. 

First, That, so far as our own state is concerned, the re- 
turns of criminal convictions, annually made to the office of 
the secretary of state, show that the increase of crimes of 

that they must forever remain ahnost fruitless, unless their power 
to reclaim is made to rest upon the effect of schools for the people 
universally established, attendance upon which is obligatory, and 
where instruction is considered as only one of the means of educa- 
tion." 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 139 

every description, within the last ten years, is not greater 
than the increase of population, even on the supposition, by 
no means probable, that the returns M^ere as full and com- 
plete, when first required, ton years since, as they arc at 
present.* 

Secondly, This increase of crime would have been much 
less, but for the unusual influx of foreigners within the last 
few years. Dr. Julius states, as the result of a laborious 
examination of all the principal prisons of the United States, 
that about otie third of the convicts are foreigners. The re- 
turns of this state show that, with us, the proportion is even 
larger, being in some years nearly one half. 

Thirdly, Before this increase of crime could, under any 
circumstances, be ascribed with plausibility to an increase 
of education, for this is gravely maintained by some per- 
sons, it would be necessary to show that those offences 
have multiplied fastest which, in their conception and prep- 
aration, require the greatest knowledge and forethought. 
The facts, however, are remarkably the reverse. In this 
state, as appears by a late annual report (for 1840) of the 
secretary of state on criminal convictions, the crimes of 
forgery, perjury, burglary, &c., which imply skill and 
knowledge, have been diminishing, while those which are 
the usual concomitants of ignorance and , mental debase- 
ment have increased. To the same effect is the experi- 
ence of other states. Says the chaplain of the Connecticut 
State Prison, in a late report, " that knowledge is not very 
frequently used as an instrument in the commission of crime, 
may be presumed from the fact that, of the 66 committed to 
this prison last year, the crimes of only four were of such 

* It ought to be considered, also, that in proportion as the detec- 
tion and punishment of offences is facihtated by an improved police, 
and by a better state of public morals, in that proportion criminal 
arrests and convictions may become more numerous, though crime 
itself is decreasing. 



140 THE SCHOOL AND 

a nature as to require for their commission ability either to 
read or write." The directors of the Ohio Penitentiary- 
state that " it is an erroneous impression that the convicts 
are inteUigent, shrewd men, whose minds have been per- 
verted to vice, rather than blunderers into low and vicious 
habits, and vdtimately into the commission of crime, from 
idleness, ignorance, and opacity of mental vision. It will 
be seen that nearly the whole number of convicts are be- 
low mediocrity in point of information ; and, indeed, our in- 
quiries and observations have long since fully satisfied us 
that, not only in our own prison, but in others which we 
have visited or inquired after, depraved appetites and cor- 
rupt habits, which have led to the commission of crime, 
are usually found with the ignorant, uninformed, and duller 
part of mankind. Of the 276, nearly all below mediocri- 
iry, 175 are grossly ignorant, and in point of education 
scarcely capable of transacting the ordinary business of 
life." Is it not a question for grave reflection, how far so- 
ciety, after thus suffering individuals to grow up in igno- 
rance and incapacity, retains, in respect to them, the right 
of inflicting punishment 1* 

FGurthly, To show, however, still more clearly that edu- 
cation, instead of being responsible for any portion of this 
increase of crime, is directly and greatly calculated to ar- 

* It has been said, that, though ignorance and want of education 
are concomitanls of crime, they are not the causes of it, but are only 
effects, conjointly with crime, of some other cause or causes, such 
as poverty. I reply that, though the proximate cause of some crimes 
is poverty, the ultimate cause, even in such cases, is generally the 
want of a good education. Poverty itself, as we have already shown, 
may, in most instances, be attributed, in this country, to a neglect- 
ed or eiToneous education ; and, moreover, it is not true, that our 
criminals are generally from among the sufTering poor. Their crimes 
have, in most cases, resulted from idleness and vice ; and these, as 
all knoAv, are the ofleot usually of bad training in childhood and 
youth. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 141 

rest it, I would place in juxtaposition, and ask attention 
to two facts, which seem to me alike conclusive and stri- 
king. 

I. It appears by the late census, that there are but 43,000 
white adults in this state, who are unable to read and write. 
If to this number, Ave add one half of the whole coloured 
population of the state as sufl'ering from a like inability, 
and make a large allowance for children old enough to 
commit crime, yet without education, we shall get a total 
of about 83,000 ; i. e., about aV^h of the whole population of 
the state, who cannot read and write. If, then, education 
has no tendency to diminish crime, so that a person, after 
having enjoyed its advantages, is as likely to commit crime 
as the ignorant, we should expect, on examining the records 
of our courts and prisons, to find the same proportion be- 
tween the instructed and uninstructed among the convicts, 
as among the whole population. In other words, we should 
expect to find 28 convicts able to read and write to every 
one unable to do so. Now what is the fact? 

II. If we take the whole number of convictions in this 
state for the last two years, in courts of record and at spe- 
cial sessions, we find not 1 in 29 who is unable to read, 
but 1 in 2 ; showing that the tendency to crime among the 
ignorant is fourteen and a half times greater than it ought 
to be, on the supposition that education has no tendency to 
diminish crime. An examination of the Auburn prison, 
made something more than a year ago, gave, out of 244 
prisoners, but 59 who could read well, and but 39 who 
could read and write. 

In the New Penitentiary of Philadelphia, out of 217 pris- 
oners received during the year 1835, but 85 could read and 
write, and most of these could do either the one or the 
other in but a very imperfect manner. Facts of this kind 
might be adduced to almost any extent. By showing that 
the proportion of imeducated convicts is much greater than 



142 THE SCHOOL AND 

that of uneducated inhabitants, they seem to me to demon- 
strate that ignorance is one of the great highways to crime, 
and that, in proportion as men are left without instruction, in 
that proportion they are hkely to become convicts. 

In dismissing this subject, I ought, perhaps, to refer to a 
statement, made a few years since by a distinguished French 
writer (M. Guerry), which seems to militate seriously against 
the views here taken, and which is frequently adduced, as 
proof that education is powerless in preventing, if it be not 
efficient in producing crime. It was alleged by M. Gueny, 
after an elaborate survey of the " moral statistics" of France, 
that there was more crime in the best instructed than in the 
worst instructed provinces of the kingdom. Admitting the 
fact to be as stated, and admitting, also, that education was 
the cause of this increase of crime, it must be obvious to 
every one bestowing a moment's reflection on the subject, 
that the true explanation is to be found in the absence, un - 
til recently, from French systems of instruction, of a moral 
and religious spirit. 

It has been ascertained, however, on a more thorough ex- 
amination, that it did not hold, as a general fact, that crime 
was more prevalent in the better instructed provinces ; and, 
moreover, that, if such vt^ere the fact, it was susceptible of 
demonstration that education was not to be held responsible 
for it. From a paper read a few years since before the Sta- 
tistical Society of London, by G. R. Porter, Esq., it appears 
that the conclusions of M. Guerry were based upon the re- 
turns of a single year, whereas five years taken in succession 
would furnish a result entirely difl^erent. The returns for 
the five years ending 1833 show, that the annual average 
number of criminals was nearly ten per cent, greater in the 
least instructed, than it was in the most instructed depart- 
ments ; and it so happens that the year (1831) taken by 
M. Guerry for examination, was the only one of the five, 
in which the excess of criminals was not arranged on the 



THE .SCHOOLMASTER. 



143 



side of the least instructed departments. It is farther to be 
considered — and this, indeed, is the all-essential point — that 
an excess of crime, in the best instructed provinces in 1831, 
proves nothing against education, unless it can be shown, 
that the criminals themselves were educated. But it turns 
out, on examination, that |ths of the whole number were un- 
able to read and write well, and that the proportion of igno- 
rant criminals, as compared with the whole number of nnin- 
structed inhabitants, was even greater in the more enlighten- 
ed provinces than elsewhere. The reason for the latter 
fact probably is, that where education is pretty generally 
imparted, the wholly ignorant find themselves more embar- 
rassed in obtaining employment, and hence are more likely 
to betake themselves to lawless courses.* 



* It is usual now, in the criminal statistics of France and England, 
to divide the persons accused or convicted into four classes, as it 
respects their education. The 1st class is composed of those who 
are unable to read and write. 2. Able to read and write imperfect- 
ly, '.i. Able to read and write well. 4. Superiorly instructed. In 
France, during seven years, the proportion borne by the well edu- 
cated to the other three classes of the accused was, on an average, 
227 to 9773. In Scotland and England, where the proportionate 
number of well-educated persons must be much greater than it is in 
France, the proportion of the accused of that character was (in 
1836) considerably less. In Scotland it was but 188 to 9812, while 
in England it v.'as no more than 91 to 9909. The following table is 
worthy of inspection : 



Unable to read and write . . . . 
Able to read and write imperfectly . 
Able to read and write well . . . 



En«hnd and Wales. 


Scotland. 


0. accused. ''•"'=°"=«™»i' 


N'o. accused. 


CenlMimal 


priporMon. 




propnrlion. 


7,033 


33.52 


539 


18.45 


10.9.->3 


52.33 


1427 


48.84 


2,215 


10.56 


489 


16.73 


191 


0.91 


55 


1.88 


502 


2.68 


412 


14.10 










20,984 


100.00 


2922 


100.00 



Superiorly instructed 

Degree of instruction not ascertained 



Of the 55 educated persons, accused in Scotland, 41 were convict- 
ed, viz. : 15 for common assaults, 15 for simple thefts, 2 for frauds, 3 
for forgery, 1 for subornation of perjury, 2 for house breaking, 1 for a 
nameless offence, 2 for other slight offences. It is obvious that in- 
temperance must have occasioned a large proportion of these 



144 THE SCHOOL AND 

We have thus shown that education, even in its present 
state, though so imperfect, so wanting in a lofty moral aim, 
and so destitute of a truly intellectual spirit, still does much 
to diminish crime, and to promote the social well-being of 
communities and nations. How much more would this be 
the case, if all young persons enjoyed such training and in- 
struction as might be bestowed, and such as we are bound 
to claim and struggle after in their behalf. 

Throughout this and the preceding section, I have assumed 
that the education of a whole people is practicable. It would 
be worse than mockery, to unfold and dwell on the vast impor- 
tance of the education of the masses, if it be a blessing be- 
yond their reach, or beyond the reach of most of them. That 
a good moral and industrial training might be enjoyed by 
all, in a well-ordered state of society, will probably be ad- 
mitted ; but it is not so generally conceded, that we can be- 
stow on all, knowledge, and the blessings of an active, culti- 
vated mind. It must not be forgotten, says De Tocqueville, 
that a great majority, in every civilized country, must spend 
their lives in manual labour j and that, in their case, no high 
degree of culture can be expected. It seems to me, how- 
ever, that this remark is founded on a great, though very 
prevalent misconception in regard to the nature and effects 
of manual labour. It was for ages supposed that its tenden- 

crimes ; for example, the assaults. The punishments awarded were 
as follows : 

Tried and discharged 11 

Imprisoned one month and under ... 8 

" above 1 and not exceeding 2 months 8 

"3 '< « 6 " . 5 

" 6 " «' 12 " . 3 

Outlawed . 2 

Transported for 7 years 1 

" 14 years 1 

life 2 

Total 41 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 145 

cy and efiect must be, to deaden and debase the powers of 
the soul. The rudeness and ignorance which abounded 
among the Avorking-chisses, and which ought to have been 
ascribed to the neglect or oppression of their superiors, 
were, by a strange perversion, attributed to their occupa- 
tions ; and tliis, too, in the face of the undeniable fact, 
that those classes were, over all Europe, forcing their way 
upward in the scale of intelligence and political power, in 
spite of the most strenuous and formidable opposition ; and 
in face, too, of the fact, now so obvious, that they owed their 
increasing intelligence and consideration, in a great measure, 
to their industry. It has been assumed, also, that a labour- 
ing man has no time for mental culture, and that it is pre- 
posterous to expect, that reading and thinking beings can be 
made out of those wlio&e lives are doomed to unceasing 
toil. 

The answer to these objections is, first, that labour has 
no tendency, to debase and deaden the intellect. To think 
so, is to impeach the wisdom and goodness of that Being 
who has made labour our great duty. It is to overlook the 
fact, that no labour is so humble or so circumscribed, but 
that knowledge and mental culture will assist the workman 
to perform it cheerfully, and will also enable him to make 
it more productive to himself, and more useful to others. 
It is to forget, too, that no one is condemned by Providence 
to one dull round of toil ; that it is the right and duty of 
every one to seek, if he be duly qualified, a less laborious 
or a more intellectual employment, and that it is education 
alone which can thus prepare him, to var}^ his condition. 
If the labouring population were educated, as thoroughly as 
their situation admits, and were made provident, we should 
no longer hear of multitudes being obliged to spend their 
whole lives in heading nails, or pointing pins. It is also 
worthy of consideration, that most kinds of manual labour 
require some degree of thought and intelligence, thus con- 
N 



146 THE SCHOOL AND 

tributing to improve the mind ; and that there are many 
moments, even when most busy, that the workman can de- 
vote his mind to reflection on the contents of the books he 
has read, or to those excursions of a healthy and well-reg- 
ulated imagination, which tend to strengthen the under- 
standing and to improve the heart. 

But, secondly, is it true that a life of labour aflbrds no 
time for reading and self-culture ? I can hardly conceive 
of any occupation so incessant or toilsome that it would not 
afford two or three hours in a week, besides many " odd 
ends of time," to be appropriated to books and lectures. 
Add to these, the time which God has especially conse- 
crated to the improvement of the mind in knowledge as 
well as virtue — the Christian Sabbath. Add, also, the op- 
portunities for improving thought, and for instructive con- 
versation, which the labourer has when at work,* and it 
becomes evident, that no inconsiderable part of the time of 
the most industrious may be spent in gaining knowledge 
and wisdom. It can be deemed no exaggeration, if we 
maintain that, in addition to days of sacred rest, which form 
one seventh part of life, there are other seasons of leisure 
which may be given to mental culture, sufficient to form, 

* " Where workmen are employed in the same apartment, and 
there is nothing noisy in the work, one may always read while the 
others are employed. If there are twenty-four men together, this 
arrangement would only require each man to make one extra day 
in four weeks, supposing the reading to go on the whole day, which 
it would not ; but a boy or a girl might be engaged to perform the 
task at an expense so trifling as not to be felt. This expedient, too, 
it may be observed, would save money as well as time ; one copy 
of a book, and that borrowed for the purpose, or obtained from a 
reading society or circulating library, would suffice for a number of 
persons. I may add, that great help would be given by the better- 
informed and more apt learners to such as are slower of apprehen- 
sion and more ignorant ; and discussion (under proper regulations) 
would be of singular use to all, even the most forward proficients." 
— Lord !Rbough.\m. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 147 

with those days, a portion of hfe not less tlian one sixth, 
and in many cases, not less than one fourth of the whole. 
" I begin," says Lord Brougham, at the opening of a 
pamphlet, published several years since, on Popular Edu- 
cation, " by assuming that there is no class of the commu- 
nity so entirely occupied with labour as not to have aa 
hour or two, every other day at least, to bestow upon the 
pleasure and improvement to be derived from reading, or 
so poor as not to have the means of contributing something 
towards purchasing this gratification ; the enjoyment of 
which, besides the present amusement, is the surest way 
both to raise our character and belter our condition." 



CONCLUSION. 

I have thus dwelt at great length upon the nature, objects, 
and uses of Education. It may be thought, that on these 
subjects, so protracted a discussion was unnecessary, since 
they are already well understood, and thoroughly appreci- 
ated, in this coimtry. But is it so ? Our people have ab- 
solute control over the whole subject of education, not only 
as it respects their own families, but, to a great extent, in 
schools and seminaries of learning. If, then, the people 
were fully awake, to its importance and true nature, we 
should soon have a perfect system, and we should witness 
results from it, for which we now look in vain. 

Here, in truth, is the great desideratum. We all com- 
plain that our schools are defective, our teachers imperfect- 
ly qualified, and the training which our children receive, 
both at home and at school, wanting, in some of the first 
elements of a good education. Why is this ? Why do not 
the people demand, and compel an immediate change ? 
Why are so many instructers allowed to occupy places for 
which they are incompetent, and to return our children to 
us, after months, or even years, of attendance at school, 
without any generous improvement in mind or manners ^ 



148 THE SCHOOL AND 

Why is it so difficult to gain a liberal and prompt support 
for efforts that are made to extend, and, above all, to per- 
fect education ? And why are these efforts, when they are 
sustained, so often leavened by a sordid spirit, or by a total 
misconception of what education ought to do for youth ? Is 
it not because, as a people, we do not, after all, appreciate 
as we ought the inestimable importance of " a right virtuous 
and noble education ?" Is it not because, we misapprehend 
the ends to be answered by it, as well as the best means for 
attaining those ends ? How few of us look upon education, 
as that which is to rear our children to high mental and 
moral excellence, and inspire ttem with an ambition above 
this world ; an ambition to perform, with unfailing and un- 
faltering fidelity, the humblest as well as the most exalted 
duties ! How few of us rank such an education, higher in 
our esteem, than all worldly wealth or distinction, and feel 
that, in bestowing it, we give to our children the richest in- 
heritance, the noblest and most enviable patrimony ! How 
few apprehend, clearly, the uses to which a good education 
ought to be applied, or entertain views, sufficiently large 
and liberal, of the spirit of self-ciiltm'e which it ought to in- 
spire and cherish ! 

I cannot, in closing this chapter, do better, perhaps, than 
recapitulate the leading principles Avhich I have developed, 
and ask the reader, as he reviews them, to inquire how far 
they have hitherto been appreciated, and acted upon by him- 
self. Let liim consider, that our efforts to train up 0(u- -chil- 
dren in' the way that they should go must be misdirected, 
and, therefore, be in part or wholly fruitless, unless we un- 
derstand well the end and object of education. Let him 
consider, too, that errors on this subject are exceedingly 
prevalent, and that, even when they do not infect our own 
minds, they are very apt to reach and taint our children, 
and that special eflbrts are ne<eded, not only to guard those 
children, but also to enlighten and correct public opinion. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 149 

and thus to secure, in behalf of the real welfare of the rising 
generation, the talent and strength which are now wasted in 
efforts that are either idle or pernicious. Let him consider, 
finally, whether he is fully sensible, to what a vast and im- 
measurable extent, his own welfare, the happiness of liis chil- 
dren, and the honour and interests of his country, are idea* 
titled with the success of judicious efforts to improve our 
systems of training and instruction, and to make their influ* 
ence coextensive with our land. If he cannot but feel, that 
on some of these subjects, his convictions have hitherto 
wanted clearness and force, he will then perceive the need 
there is, for a renewed and thorough discussion of those 
subjects, from time to time. I will not conceal my own 
settled conviction, that we shall never have the education 
we need in this country, till the people are roused to a more 
adequate sense of its importance, and have a clearer per-* 
ception of its true nature, objects, and uses. 

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES IN CHAP. I. 
SEC. I. WHAT IS EDUC.\TION 1 

Education is the due development, of all the primitive 
powers, and susceptibilities of our nature. 

It is peculiarly necessary in youth, because then this na* 
ture is most plastic, and impressions made upon it are most 
lasting. 

It does not obliterate all original differences in charac- 
ter or inequalities in talent, but aims to modify and improve. 

Its object, is rather to form a perfect character, than to 
qualify for any particular station or office. 

Man needs it the more, because he has few instincts, and 
because he is endo\ved with unbounded capabilities of im- 
provement. 

Intellectual Education shoxdd aim, to make its subject, a 
successful learner, and teacher of truth 



150 THE SCHOOL ANI> 

Moral Education, to harmonize the contending impulses 
of our nature, and subject all to conscience and the moral 
law. 

jEsthetical Education, to refine the taste, regulate and 
exalt the imagination, and render both subservient, to ener- 
gy of action, and purity of purpose. 

Physical Education, to perfect the delicacy of the sen- 
ses, establish vigorous health, and fonn habits and impart 
knowledge calculated to preserve that health. 

SEC. II. PREVAILING ERRORS IN REGARD TO EDUCATION. 

To correct these, and form clear notions of the nature 
and end of education, is the first and most essential step to- 
wards improvement. 

These errors are : 

1. The notion, that education is comprehended in certain 
scholastic acquirements. 

2. That it consists in knowledge. 

3. Cultivating the intellect to the neglect of the heart, 
or the heart to the neglect of the intellect. 

4. Overlooking the necessity of good example, and the 
power of bad. 

5. Overlooking the proper culture of taste and imagina- 
tion. 

6. Disregarding the danger of a premature development 
of intellect, at the expense of health. 

7. Forgetting, how manifold are the causes, which tend 
to form character, or give " heart to a nation." 

8. ■ Not adapting itself, sufficiently, to the different char- 
acters and circumstances of children, nor to peculiarities 
of age and sex. 

9. Making a too free use of stimulants. 

10. Not attaching sufficient importance, to intellectual 
and moral iharaUT, and too rr.wcli to s-uoi^s^. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER, 151 

11. In not having sufficient reference to the future pur- 
suits and condition of children. 

SEC. V. THE EDUCATION NEEDED BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLL. 

1. Moral and religious, as a means of cultivating habits 
of self-control, and of obedience to lawful authority. 

2. Thorough intellectual culture, in order to promote hab- 
its of inquiry, and of deliberating before we act ; and also to 
render us more tolerant of opinions differing from our own. 

3. Industrial training, as a security against the tempta- 
tions of idleness, as affording useful discipline .to the mind 
and feelings, as promoting habits of order and regular- 
ity, as favourable to health, and as a pledge of interest in 
the common welfare. 

4. A more elegant and humanizing culture, as, 1. A se- 
curity against sensual indulgence. 2. A resource in leisure. 
3. An innocent and healthy source of enjoyment. 4. Im- 
proving manners. 5. Strengthening virtuous principles and 
feelings. 

The education now bestowed on the mass of the Ameri- 
can people does not answer this description. 

SEC. VI. IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION. 

I. To the Individual. 
Education of some kind is unavoidable. We must choose, 
therefore, between the casual education of circumstances, 
which is bad, and the formal tuition of teachers and parents, 
which may, and should be, good. 

1. The uneducated are sensual, and, therefore, selfish and 
cruel. 

2. They are the victims of groundless hopes and fears ; 
therefore credulous, superstitious, and unhappy. 

3. They are prejudiced ; therefore averse to new truths, 
and unable to appreciate them 



152 THE SCHOOL AND 

4. They are deprived of the personal and domestic re» 
sources enjoyed by all who love books. 

5. They do not enjoy the emotions even of surprise, 
wonder, or adoration, as highly as those, who inquire and 
reason. 

6. They are unfitted for the more profitable and honour- 
able employments of life. 

7. They are less likely to be satisfied with their station 
in life, and with the labours and cares to which they are 
subjected. 

SEC. VII. IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION. 

II. To Society, 

Society is a partnership, and may be considered, first, aa 
a material partnership ; second, as s. political and social one, 

I.Asa material partnership, engaged in producing and 
distributing wealth, it is benefited by education, because, 

(a) Education makes men more industrious ; {h) more 
trustworthy ; (c) more active and systematic ; [d) more 
cheerful ; (e) more far-sighted ; (/) more economical, as 
producers and preservers of property. 

By neglecting these truths, England has suffered. By 
observing them, New-England has greatly prospered. 

Cor. It follows : 1 . That education affords the most cer- 
tain means of developing the industrial resources of a 
country, and promoting its growth and prosperity. 2. That 
general education is the best preventive of pauperism, 

2. As a political and moral partnership, society is bene- 
fited by education, because, 

{a) It tends to make a people more orderly, and to sub- 
stitute reflection for passion ; (b) to predispose them to re- 
spect lawful authority ; (c) to indispose them to submit to 
oppression ; (J) to render political revolutions gradual and 
bloodless ; (e) to qualify men for the ex<ercise of more and 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 153 

more political power ; (/) to make refinement and civili- 
zation universal. 

Examples of the benignant social effects of general edu- 
cation are afforded, 1 . By small communities, like the par- 
ish of Oberlin or the manufacturing town of Lowell (Mass.). 
2. By states or nations, such as the states of New-Eng- 
land, the democratic cantons of Switzerland ; Holland, Prus- 
sia, &c. 

The influence of education in diminishing crime, is proved 
by many particular facts, and by the general result, that 
crimes decrease, usually, in proportion, as a good system of 
popular instruction becomes more prevalent. 

This education, so important to individuals and to states, 
may be made attainable to all, even the most indigent and 
laborious ; for, 

1 . Labour does not deaden the intellect, but tends rather 
to quicken and invigorate it. 

2. The claims of labour are not inconsistent with leisure 
sufficient for mental culture. 

There must be a deeper conviction, among the people, of 
the necessity and value of education, and a clearer percep- 
tion of its nature and objects, before we can expect any 
great improvement. 



154 THE SCHOOL A^D 



CHAPTER II. 
COMMON SCHOOLS. 

SECTION I. 

RELATION OF COMMON SCHOOLS TO OTHEB MEANS OP 

EDUCATION. 

" Mothers and schoolmasters plant the seeds of nearly aU the good 
and evil which exist in our world. Its reformation must therefore 
be begun in nurseries and in schools." — Dr. Rush. 

" At home, a boy can learn only what is taught him ; but in school 
he can learn what is taught to others." — Quintilian. 

" That education which will secure to the future, the civilization 
of the past and present, is what the country reaUy requires." — 

WHEVy^ELL. 

I HAVE hitherto spoken of the education of the people, 
without referring to the sources, from which they derive it. 
I now come to consider Common Schools, as forming one of 
the most important of these sources, and the one with 
which we are especially called to deal, in this work. In 
order to understand, more clearly, the precise agency which 
these schools exert, it will be proper, however, to notice 
some of the other causes, which contribute to form the mind 
of a people, and the relations, which these sustain to Com- 
mon Schools. 

Among these causes, some are physical, such as climate, 
soil, and geographical position ; and these, while they exert 
great power over the character and history of nations, are 
not liable to be modified materially by education. On the 
other hand, jnoral causes, such as those of a political, reli- 
gious, and literary nature, are subject to human control ; and 
there is, between them and prevailing systems of education, 
action and reaction, of the most intimate and powerful kind. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 155 

The agencies, however, which share most immediately with 
Common Schools, in the office of moulding a nation's spirit 
and character are, 1. the family; 2. higher seminaries of 
learning ; 3. the means of self-culture, provided in books, 
lyceums, &c. I propose, in this section, to confine my in- 
quiries to the precise place which the Common School oc- 
cupies in respect to each of these ; and I shall endeavour 
to show that, while all of them are necessary in a complete 
system of national education, each one derives from the 
Common School essential aid and support, and, in its turn, 
affords corresponding aid and support to it. 

I. "What relation, then, in the first place, does the Com- 
mon School bear to the family, as an instrument of educa- 
tion ? It is, evidently, the intention of the Creator, that the 
first years of a child's life should be passed under the im- 
mediate eye of its parents, and especially under that of an 
affectionate and judicious mother. It needs, then, a ten- 
derness and watchful care, which can be expected from no 
other source, and in the retirement of home it drinks in, 
from the lips and deportment of those so much loved and 
revered, the most precious lessons of Avisdom and virtue. 
There are cases, however, in which parents are so occu- 
pied that they are obliged to neglect their children, even 
during their infant years ; and other cases, in which they 
are disqualified, by their character and habits, from applying 
any salutarj^- influence. In these cases, it may be necessa- 
ry to place even very young children in infant schools, 
where they can be treated with proper tenderness, and can 
have the benefit of good moral, and intellectual training. At 
a later period, when a child attains, for example, the age of 
seven or eight, and requires more formal and thorough in- 
struction ; it is expedient, in most instances, that he should 
be separated, for a part of each day, from his parents (what- 
ever may be their character and circumstances), and enjoy 
the peculiar advantages of a good school. In thus prefer- 



156 THE SCHOOL AND 

ring a mixed education — partly scholastic and partly do- 
mestic — to one purely domestic, I am influenced by the fol- 
lowing considerations : 

1 . If a child, at this period, is educated entirely at home, 
and by his own parents, he Avill, in many cases, have igno- 
rant or vicious instructers, who have no proper sense of the 
value, of knowledge or of virtue. In such cases, of course, 
he can never advance beyond them in intelligence or char- 
acter, and the eflect of making home-education universal, 
would be, to fix society in a stagnant condition, without 
progress or change. 

2. If, on the other hand, parents are qualified, by knowl- 
edge and disposition, to give a good education to their chil- 
dren, they rarely have sufficient leisure for the purpose, in 
this countiy ; and when they have, they rarely employ it, 
in such a manner, as to give the child the full benefit of a 
systematic and thorough training. 

3. Even allowing to parents the highest qualifications and 
the utmost fidelity and perseverance, tliey are still, in most 
instances, too blind to their children's character and capaci- 
ty, or too impatient for their improvement, to make wise and 
judicious teachers. " The intense interest," says Godwin, 
" which a parent feels in the improvement of his ofl'spring, 
frequently renders him totally unfit for the ofiice of a teach- 
er." Add to this, that a parent who spends some hours 
each day amid the vexations of the schoolroom, is not 
likely to carry the requisite equanimity to other household 
cares, and rarely exercises authority, in other matters, with 
the same comfort or effect, as if the children were separated 
from home, for a part of the time. 

If, instead of superintending the education of our chil- 
dren personally, we employ a private or family instructei", 
we subject our children, by such an arrangement, to the 
following disadvantages, even though our instructer be, in 
the highest degi-ee, capable and faithful : 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 157 

1. It is physically impossible that a teacher can throw as 
much spirit and energy into his instructions, when they are 
given in the presence of but one, or of a very small num- 
ber, as when they are communicated before a large school. 
The efficacy of teaching, depends, very much, on its vi- 
vacity. 

2. The pupil of a private instructer depends too much on 
him, and too little on himself. 

3. Such a pupil is deprived of a great amount of oblique 
or indirect instruction, both mental and moral, which a 
scholar at a public school derives from what he hears ad- 
dressed to others, and from what he sees of the discipline 
of the school, and of the results which follow different 
courses of cor.Juci. 

4. The pupil of a private instructer is too constantly au 
object of attention, the effect of which is, first, that he is 
very apt to overrate his own consequence, and, secondly, he 
is liable to be too much hurried in his studies, and too fre- 
quently interrupted, by unnecessary aid and interference. 

5. Such a student needs the inspiring influence of others 
who are engaged in the same pursuits, and who, while they 
quickened his efforts, would also teach him the true meas- 
ure of his own abilities, and the proper standard by which 
to estimate his personal importance. 

6. He is deprived of the advantage of living under a gov- 
ernment of fixed rules, which are framed for the common 
benefit and government of several persons of different con- 
ditions and character in life, and of thus being gradually 
prepared to become the subject of civil government. The 
regulations of a family are less like those of civil society, 
than the regidations of a school. 

7. As a child must ultimately separate from his family, 
and adapt himself to the ever-varying emergencies of life, 
and struggle with its difficulties and temptations, he should 
be early prepared for all this by a training which he can 

O 



158 THE SCHOOL AND 

hardly get, in the sheltered and uniform experience of do- 
mestic life. 

But if children ought to be sent to school, the question 
may arise, Why not prefer a select school, where they will 
mingle only with those of the more respectable and opulent 
class, and enjoy more thorough instruction and discipline ? 
I answer, 

1. That, in most cases, a select school can be made su- 
perior to the common school, only, by absorbing the patron- 
age of those who are best able to support education, and 
who appreciate most deeply its importance ; and that, in 
absorbing that patronage, it condemns the common school to 
inefficiency, arid thus deprives the bulk of the community 
of the advantages of thorough instruction. 

2. Select schools serve to create and perpetuate preju- 
dices against the common school system, as though it were 
necessarily inferior or unimportant, when the general wel- 
fare requires, that it should be an object of universal regard 
and solicitude. 

3. Such schools encourage invidious distinctions be- 
tween the rich and poor, which are misplaced everywhere, 
and especially in our country ; and they also separate those 
who, in after-life, will have to meet, on the broad ground of 
free and equal competition. 

4. They have also the effect, of making the position of a 
common school teacher less pleasant and respectable, there- 
by repelling, from the pursuit, those who are best qualified 
for it. 

In cities, and wherever population is dense and property 
abundant, it may be well to have some select schools of the 
highest excellence, in order to stimulate the teachers and 
patrons of common schools. But in the present condition 
of our country, and especially of the agi'icultural -districts, it 
is a matter of the last importance that all efforts for the sup- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 159 

port and encouragement of primary education should be 
combined in behalf of the district school.* 

* The able superintendent of common scliools in Connecticut (H. 
Barnard, Esq.), thus sums up a review of the effect of select schools 
in that state : " During the past year (1839-40), I have given par- 
ticular attention to this subject, and without going any farther into 
detail, I am constrained to say that, in most instances, this class 
of private schools have their origin in the defective organization and 
administration of the common schools, and that they are now exert- 
ing a most unhappy influence on their prosperity, and the efforts to 
improve them. I know of no other way to restore the common 
school to its true position in our system of education, as the broad 
pla^orm for all the children of a district, be they rich or poor, than 
byTroking it the best school ; and I know of no other way of making 
it such, than a resolute determination to remove the defects which 
now- make it inferior to the private school." 

" As far as an estimate can be formed, from the returns of this 
and the previous year, there are more than two hundred thousand 
dollars expended yearly on private schools, of a grade no higher than 
a class of our conmton schools should constitute. A large portion 
of this sum can be directed into the broad and thirsty channel of the 
cominon schools so soon as the people make them not only cheap, 
but good, and not till then." — See Second Annual Report of the Board 
of Cormnissioners of Common Schools in Connecticut, together with 
Second Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board, May, 1840. 
I cannot omit this opportunity of recommending the reports which 
have emanated from this source as rich in unportant suggestions, 
and full of the most sound and practical views in regard to the 
whole subject of common school education. 

If private schools are as extensively supported in New-York as in 
Connecticut, it would follow, from the above statement, that they 
divert annually one million five hundred thousand dollars, which 
ought to be applied in sustaining and improving our common 
schools, and which would be thus applied, were common schools 
good and efficient. 

A late writer on Education in Europe gives a somewhat different 
view of the policy of sustaining select schools. " Let public 
schools," says he, " be rendered really efficient, and private schools 
would become still more efficient, or they would soon cease to be en- 
couraged. The best system appears to be that of promoting a spirit 



160 THE SCHOOL AND 

But if parents need tlie aid of good common schools, it is 
obvious, on the other hand, that these schools require the 
aid and countenance of parents. They will, in most cases, 
benefit children, only, in proportion as the precepts and in- 
structions of the teacher are enforced by the parent. If he 
shows, by his deportment, that he values the school, and is 
anxious to increase its efficiency and usefulness ; if, instead 
of obstructing the teacher in his plans or clirfputing his au- 
thority, he assiduously furthers both ; if he manifests a live- 
ly interest in the progress of his children, and takes pains 
to ascertain, personally, how far they discharge their duty 
and how far the instructions they receive are adapted to their 
wants — in such case both tea-cher and taught will have -the 
strongest inducements to exertion, and the school will prove 
most fruitful of good. Such attentions, hoAvever, cannot be 
expected from all parents, and are therefore the more incum- 
bent on those, who are competent to bestow them, and who 
know the value of a good education. If they discharge their 
duty in this respect, the result will be, that all the children 
of the vicinity, even those of the most vicious and ignorant 
parents, will be brought under the benign influence of a good 
school. On the other hand, when this great duty is neg- 
lected, and no cheering influence is extended from the fam- 
ily to the school, the teacher must be more than man if his 

of honourable rivalry between the conductors of public schools and 
those of private establishments. Let the government do well, and 
individual professors, if they can, do better. This rivalry, in Scot- 
land, has worked very beneficially. The parochial schools are in- 
different, but they have stimulated into existence a multitude of pri- 
vate schools, supported entirely upon the condition of giving better 
instruction than can be obtained in the public schools. Had the 
public schools not been established, the private schools of Scotland 
would have been far less efficient than they are." These observa- 
tions are applicable to cities and large villages, but not to the rural 
districts of our own country, where population is sparse, and where 
select schools usually prove fatal to the district school. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 161 

heart does not fail him in the midst of his unrequited, 
unaided labours. How can he keep alive his zeal, or how 
shall he rekindle the waning fires of his enthusiasm, when 
he meets around him nothing but cold indifference and neg- 
lect? No agent can be expected to be permanently vigi- 
lant and faithful without supervision from his employers : and 
even were it otherwise, a teacher's lessons can make but 
little impression on children, who feel that their parents, 
who ought to be most deeply interested in their improve- 
ment, are, in fact, indifferent to it. 

II. We proceed now to consider the relations between 
common schools, and higher seminaries of learning. All these 
institutions are necessary, in a complete system of public in- 
struction. In order to supply a city with water, it is requi- 
site, in the first place, to construct a reservoir on an elevated 
site, and of sufficient capacity, to answer all demands that 
may be made upon it. From this reservoir, a main trunk 
or aqueduct is carried to the borders of the city ; and from 
it, again, numberless branches diverge, which divide and 
subdi\dde, till the pure element is brought to every door, and 
enjoyed by every inhabitant. It is the same with knowl- 
edge, and with the other blessings of civilization. Books 
and other records form the principal reservoir, in which these 
are collected. Of these books, some are exceedingly rare, 
and are accessible only to a favoured few ; others are writ- 
ten in ibreign languages, or in those no longer spoken ; 
some of them can be expounded only after years of arduous 
study, and some need to be illustrated, by experiments with 
expensive apparatus, or by costly specimens and graphical 
representations. 

It must be apparent, that as the inhabitants of a city can- 
not all resort to the main reservoir, so neither can all stu- 
dents draw knowledge from the original sources. There 
must be various orders of teachers. Besides bold and gift- 
ed minds, who are not content unless they push their Avay 
02 



162 THE SCHOOL AND 

unto undiscovered regions, and add something new to the 
great storehouse of truth, there must be others to reduce 
their researches to some definite form, and incorporate them 
with pre-existing systems. There must be others, again, to 
divest science and philosophy of their more recondite forms, 
and to present them, in such a way, as to meet the appre- 
hension, and arrest the interest of the reading world. — In 
the education of the young, we need,^r6'^, those Avho can 
deal with minds that have been so far trained to the higher 
efforts of the reasoning faculty, and so far furnished with 
elementary knowledge, that they can comprehend, not, in- 
deed, the highest truths of science, but yet such as are ex- 
pressed in the most rigorous and logical manner. As, how- 
ever, but a small proportion of the young can be thus train- 
ed, we need a still larger class of teachers, who, through 
oral instruction and by books, shall expound the results of 
scientific discovery in a less exact and rigorous form, and 
thus render some of its great principles, intelligible to those 
who have been but partially educated. And since there are 
vast multitudes, especially among the young, whose minds 
have either not been developed at all, or in only a slight de- 
gree, it is evidently necessary, that a still larger class of 
teachers should be occupied, in conveying the first elements 
of knowledge to the uninstructed, and in doing it, in that 
form, which shall most perfectly combine simplicity with 
attractiveness. 

Thus we see the necessity, of three grades of seminaries, 
in order to a complete system of national education — col- 
leges, academies, and common schools. Colleges, commu- 
nicate more immediately with the great reservoirs of science 
and literature, and dispense their treasures to a limited num- 
ber of minds. These last, as teachers, authors, and profes- 
sional men, serve as conductors to carry knowledge over a 
wider surface, and to impart it to a greater number of minds 
in academies and elsewhere. Common schools are the last 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 163 

ramifications of the great system, and serve to convey the 
rudiments of learning and ci-vdlization to every hamlet and 
every inhabitant. It is hardly necessary to say, that if the 
main trunk or larger branches were stopped up, the lesser 
ones would soon cease to perform their office. Colleges 
and academies are necessary to common schools, as chan- 
nels, through which the treasures of a civilization, always 
expanding and improving, may flow down to every teacher. 
They keep up an intercourse, between the highest science 
and the lowest scholarship, inciting the one to make itself 
useful and intelligible, and animating the other to more gen- 
erous aspirations after knowledge. One effect of closing 
our academies and colleges, or of paralyzing their influence, 
would be, that the people would soon cease to value knowl- 
edge, or would be content with its humblest rudiments. An- 
other effect would be, that the few who can afford it, would 
send their sons to foreign countries to gain an education, 
which, though not adapted to our state of society, would still 
be sure to invest its possessors with a commanding influence ; 
and thus the governing power of society would be placed, 
forever, in the hands of the wealthy. Under our present 
system, the highest advantages of education that the coun- 
try affords, are placed within the reach of those of humble 
means ; and it is a cheering fact, that the majority of students, 
both in oiu" colleges and academies, are not drawn from the 
circles of the affluent. They are the children of our farm- 
ers, mechanics, and tradesmen, and have, often, no other for- 
tune than a stout heart and a burning desire for knowledge. 
On the other hand, common schools are equally necessa- 
ry to academies and colleges.* If there were no places of 

* This remark needs some qualification. Colleges have subsisted 
where there were no common schools, because education, being re- 
garded as the privilege of the few, was dispensed in such cases, not 
in seminaries open for the common benefit of all, but only in select 
places of instruction. It is evident, however, that, if colleges are 



164 THE SCHOOL AND 

primaiy instruction, or if they performed their work in a 
slovenly and wretched manner, the result would be great, if 
not universal, indifierence to all high science and fine liter- 
ature. In improving common schools and extending their 
benefits, we, in effect, multiply the minds which will be awa- 
kened to the love and pursuit of knowledge ; and in multi- 
plying such minds, we multiply those who will seek admit- 
tance to higher seminaries of learning. Knowledge, like 
water, seeks its own level, and will therefore rise to the 
height from which it flowed. As it descends into the com- 
mon school;, it seizes upon many a generous spirit, and bears 
it back to its own native eminence. The youth, who has 
tasted the pleasures of a little knowledge, will be almost 
certain to thirst for more, and will thus be prompted to pass 
from the common school to an academy, and from the acad- 
emy to a college. In proportion, too, as these common 
schools are improved, they will render it necessary for oth- 
er institutions to ofier instruction of a higher order, and to 
meet the wants of more enlarged and better disciplined 
minds. In short, a community could afford no more conclu- 
sive evidence, that it appreciates the value of the most thor- 
ough and liberal culture, than by being universally and ar- 
dently interested in common schools. 

To show that this mutual dependance of common schools 
and colleges is not imaginary, I might adduce many facts. 
One will be sufficient. New-England, from the earliest pe- 
riod in its history, has been, as we all know, the land of 
common schools. Has it not been, also, the favourite soil 
of colleges and academies ? The population of the six 
New-England States, is not so great, as that of Virginia and 
the two Carolinas, by somefthree hundred thousand ; yet it 

confined to their legitimate object, there must be primary schools, 
and in such a country as ours, the former will flourish and fulfil their 
appointed work, only in proportion as the latter multiply and become 
common. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 165 

has more than twice as many students in its colleges, and 
nine times as many scholars in its common schools.* 

III. In regard to the mutual relations between common 
schools on the one hand, and books, lyceums, 6fc., on the 
other, but one or two remarks are necessary. It must be 
evident, that books are multiplied to no purpose, so far as 
they are concerned who cannot read, or who find no pleas- 
ure in that employment. So with lectures, and the various 
means of instruction afforded by lyceums, and young men's 
associations ; these will have little attraction, for minds that 
have received no scholastic culture in childhood. Give a 
child the rudiments of a good English education, and imbue 

* The population of the New-England States is 2,234,822 ; that 
of "Virginia, North and South Carolina, is 2,587,614. According to 
the last census, the whole number of students in the colleges of 
New-England is 2857, and the whole number of common school 
scholars is about 574,000. In Virginia, North and South Carolina, 
the whole number of collegiate students is 1423, and the whole 
number in common schools is 63,000. In making this comparison, 
it should be remembered that in the Southern States a large pro- 
portion of the children (in Virginia about one third of the whole 
number) are slaves, and are, of course, denied access to schools. 
Of the remainder, but about one out of three seem to be at primary 
and common schools in Virginia ; whereas, in New-England, seven 
out of eight enjoy that privilege. 2. It is also worthy of remark, 
that in the Southern States, of the whole number of scholars, those 
in attendance at the higher seminaries (academies and colleges) 
form a much greater proportion than at the north ; the number be- 
ing in the former case as one to three, whereas, in New-England, 
they are as one to twelve. This result might be anticipated. In 
proportion, as social arrangements depart from the democratic 
form and spirit, in the same proportion, will the higher classes be 
likely to appropriate to themselves the benefits of education ; and 
in the same proportion, too, is interest in the whole subject likely 
to decline. Under a system purely republican, education becomes 
the common and equal interest of all ; and institutions of every 
grade are likely to be supported, in the degree, in which they are 
useful. 



166 THE SCHOOL AND 

his inind with a spirit of activity and of liberal inquiry, and 
he will gladly avail himself of every opportunity for self- 
cultivation. Hence Ave see the active interest, which ought 
to be taken in common schools by authors and publishers, 
and by every friend to the establishment of public libraries, 
and to the formation of associations for mutual improvement. 
It is through such schools, mainly, that we may hope to in- 
spire our people with a taste for reading, and with a desire 
for all useful knowledge and liberal accomplishments. 

And, on the other hand, common schools must fail to 
produce their legitimate effect, unless the people are liber- 
ally supplied with books, and with other means of self-cul- 
■ ture. What boots it that a child has learned to read, if he 
never exercises the talent 1 Of what use can it be, that he 
has in his hand the key of all knowledge, when he is deni- 
ed the privilege of applying it to the lock, or feels no desire 
to enjoy such privilege 1 Books, and lectures, awaken the 
torpid intellect. They afford it scope for the exercise of 
its powers, and teach it that there is pleasure and profit 
in the employment. The great object of school-training, as 
we have often, remarked, is to implant in the youthful mind 
the germs of a liberal and active self-culture. If it fails in 
this, it fails wholly ; and yet it will succeed in vain, unless 
the child, when he leaves school, has ready access to books, 
and to other sources of instruction. As friends, then, of 
common schools, and of universal education, we cannot but 
welcome, with inexpressible satisfaction, the generous efforts 
which are now making, to plant libraries in every neighbour- 
hood, and to spread far and wide, associations for the diffu- 
sion of knowledge, by lectures, debates, &c. 

In closing this section, I would remind the reader, how 
intimate and striking is the connexion, which subsists be- 
tween common schools on the one hand, and the progress 
of civilization on the other. Why is it, that the blessings 
of civilization have failed for so many ages to reach the 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 167 

great mass of mankind ? Is it not, simply, because that mass 
has been left to grovel in ignorance, and mental debase- 
ment ? The result of knowledge and profound thought, 
civilization can neither be appreciated, nor enjoyed, by the 
rude and unlettered. Its progress, from age to age, has been 
the result of merely augmenting and remoulding the treas-t 
ures of intelligence and refinement already stored up ; and 
hence, where there is no mental cultivation, there can be no 
progress. The wheels of the social system may roll on 
triumphantly, and new conquests may be made for human- 
ity in the aggregate ; while multitudes, unknown to history, 
may not only have no share in such conquests, but may ac- 
tually form the blood-stained price, with which they are 
won. That all may have a part, in the blessings of civili- 
zation, all must he educated. The light of instruction must 
conspire, with the labours of industry, in lifting the masses 
out of the dust, and in admitting them to the sunshine of a 
higher and better life. Already, have these two causes 
worked wonders of deliverance for oppressed and neglected 
humanity ; but miracles, yet greater and more wondrous, 
are still needed, and must still be wrought. 

It must be evident that education, one of these gi-eat mis- 
sionaries of civilization, can be made ujiiversal, only in com- 
mon schools. To these humble seminaries, then, we must 
look, if we would see all mankind, and especially all our 
own countrymen, becoming civilized indeed. It is through 
them, and them only, that Ave can reach four fifths of ova 
people, at that interesting period in Ufe, when impressions 
are most deep and lasting ; that we can open upon them the 
genial light of knowledge, religion, and law ; and animate 
them with the all-comprehending spirit of wisdom and char- 
ity. A narrow and exclusive civilization, which is intended 
to shine onl)'' on the favoured few, may come forth, from 
the high places of science. The common school is the 
lens, which collects the scattered lights of a more compre- 



168 THE SCHOOL AND 

hensive and democratic ci\dlization, and brings them to bear 
on the opening minds of a whole people. Let the people 
see to it that that lens is made more and more transparent ; 
that it collects from every quarter the rays of intellectual 
and moral light, and casts them with an intenser brightness, 
over all our land. 



SECTION II. 

PRESENT STATE OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 

" I promised God that I would look upon every Prussian peasant 
child as a being who could complain of me before God, if I did not 
pro /ide for him the best education, as a man and a Christian, which 
it was possible for me to provide." — School-counsellor Dinter. 

In order to judge the better of the present condition of 
our common schools, it may be well to determine, in the 
first instance, what they ought to accomplish. It is by com- 
paring them, as they are, and as they ought to be, that we 
shall most clearly ascertain, how far they answer their end, 
and in what respects, they ought to be improved. In at- 
tempting to make this comparison, we must remind the 
reader, that we shall be obliged to deal in general state- 
ments ; and that, as such statements are always subject to ex- 
ceptions, so, in the present instance, both important and nu- 
merous exceptions ought to be allowed for. Our task will 
require us to exhibit the dark side of the picture ; but we 
-would not forget ourselves, nor have others forget, that it is 
relieved, by many bright spots. We know well, that there 
are, in all parts of the state, faithful and able teachers, and 
well-conducted schools. We know, too, that our common 
school system, whatever may be its defects, is accomplish- 
ing vast good ; and that on such a subject, " our business," 
to borrow the language of Guizot, " is rather to methodise 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 169 

and improve what exists, than to destroy, for the purpose of 
inventing and renewing, upon the faith of dangerous theo- 
ries." To preserve what is good, and to repair or recon- 
stnict what is defective, should be our single object. 

It was once thought sufficient, if schools were provided 
in sufficient numbers for a whole population, and if all the 
children Avere brought to attend. It was not considered, that 
these schools might fail of their great design ; owing either 
to the irregular attendance of the scholars, or to the incom- 
petency of the teacher, or to the inadequate support or de- 
fective organization of the school. It is quite evident, that 
children cannot improve at school, who are one day present 
and the next day absent, and who, besides this irregularity in 
their ordinary attendance, are kept entirely from school during 
several months each year. It is equally clear, that the same 
evils may result, from a frequent change of teachers, or from 
having the school badly organized, and subjected to the con- 
trol of parents and trustees Avho are insensible to its impor 
tance, and as ready to embarrass as to strengthen and sus- 
tain it. The gi'eatest calamity, however, wliich can befall 
the education of a people, is to have teachers without com- 
petent knowledge ; with no aptness to teach or govern ; and 
who feel, at the same time, no strong desire to improve 
themselves, nor any deep sense of their responsibility to 
God, and to their youthful charge. " Like priest, like peo- 
ple," is an old proverb, full of wisdom. It holds as true of 
the district schoolmaster, as of the parish clergyman. It 
holds, indeed, of every one, who is to operate on the charac- 
ter of others, and especially of the young, by precept and 
example. In all other cases, we seem to appreciate its im- 
portance. If apprentices have an idle or bungling master, 
we expect them to be bad workmen. If a family has a 
drunken father or mother, we expect the cliildren to be idle, 
vicious, and improvident. Is it not madness, then, to expect 
that the scholars, in t common scli/iol, can be trained to vir- 



170 THE SCHOOL AND 

tiie, and imbued with knowledge and good intellectual hab- 
its, by instructers, who themselves are destitute of these 
qualities ? 

We have said enough, in the last chapter, of the nature 
and ends of education, to authorize us in assuming, that the 
schools, in which nine tenths of our people are to acquire the 
rudiments of knowledge, and become qualified to act as men 
and citizens, ought to be, 

1. Places of agreeable resort — connecting pleasant asso- 
ciations with study, and promoting health and vigour of 
body. 

2. They should be so conducted, as to promote neatness 
and order, and cultivate good manners and refined feelings. 

3. They should cherish the moral sentiments, and culti- 
vate habits of purity, and truth. 

4. They should lay the foundation of good intellectual 
habits, and awaken a spirit of liberal self-culture. 

5. They should extend their benefits, to all the children 
in their vicinity, not otherwise well instructed. 

In endeavouring to ascertain, how far these conditions 
are fulfilled, 1 y the common schools of our country, and 
more especially of our own state, I shall confine myself to 
official returns. About three years since, special visiters 
were appointed by the State Superintendent in each of the 
counties, who were requested to visit and inspect the schools, 
and to report minutely in regard to their state and pros- 
pects. The most respectable citizens, without distinction 
of party, were selected to discharge this duty ; and the re- 
sult of their labours is contained in two reports, made, the 
one in April, 1840, the other in February, 1841. These 
documents are full of minute and detailed information, fiu*- 
nished by men interested in the great cause of popular in- 
struction, and who were not likely to misapprehend, nor to 
misrepresent its condition. It is from this source, that I 
shall derive mv Btatemarjta. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 171 

SCHOOLHOUSES, GROUNDS, &C. 

I. I ask, then,^r,s^, are our common schools places of 
agreeable resort, calculated to promote health, and to con- 
nect pleasant associations with study ? 

Ans. Say the visiters, in one of the oldest and most af- 
fluent towns, of the southeastern section of the state, " It 
may be remarked, generally, that the schoolhouses are 
built in the old style, are too small to be convenient, and, 
with one exception, too near the public roads, generally 
having no other playground." Twelve districts were vis- 
ited in this town. — See Report of Visiters (1840), p. 47. 

Say the visiters of another large and wealthy town in the 
central part of the state, " Out of the 20 schools they vis- 
ited, 10 of the schoolhouses were in bad repair, and many 
of them not worth repairing. In none were any means 
provided for the ventilation of the room. In many of the 
districts, the schoolrooms are too small for the number of 
scholars. The location of the schoolhouses is generally 
pleasant. There are, however, but few instances where 
playgrounds are attached, and their condition as to privies 
is very bad. The arrangement of seats and desks is gen- 
erally very bad, and inconvenient to both scholars and 
teachers. Most of them are without backs." — P. 28 {Rep., 
1840). 

From another town, in the northwestern part of the state, 
containing a large population, and twenty-two school dis- 
tricts, the visiters report of district No. 1, that the school- 
house is large and commodious, but scandalously cut and 
marked ; the schoolroom but tolerably clean ; the privies very 
filthy, and no means of ventilation but by opening the door 
or raising the window. No. 2 has an old schoolhouse ; 
the room not clean ; seats and desks well arranged, but cut 
and marked ; no ventilation ; the children healthy, but not 
clean. No. 3 has an old frame building, but warm and 



172 THE SCHOOL AND 

comfortable. No. 4 has a very poor, dilapidated old frame 
schoolhouse, though the inhabitants are generally wealthy 
for that country. No. 5 has a frame schoolhouse, old and 
in bad condition ; schoolroom not clean ; seats and desks 
not convenient. No. 6 has a frame schoolhouse, old and in 
bad condition ; the schoolroom is not clean ; no cup or pail 
for drinking water. No. 7 has a log schoolhouse, in a very 
bad condition ; desks and seats CiC inconvenient. " Here, 
too," say the visiters, '' society is good, and people mostly 
in easy circumstances, but the schoolhouse very unbecom- 
ing such inhabitants. It does not compare Avell with their 
dwellings." No. 8, say the visiters, is " a hard case." No. 

9 has a frame house in good condition and in a pleasant lo- 
cation, but is " too small for the number of children." No. 

10 has a log schoolhouse. No. 11 has a " log shanty for a 
schoolhouse, not fit for any school." No. 12 a log house. 
No. 13 has a log shanty, in bad condition, not pleasantly 
located, schoolroom not clean. " The schoolhouse or hovel 
in this district is so cold in winter, so small and inconve- 
nient, that little can be done towards preserving order or ad- 
vancing education among so many scholars ; some poor in- 
habitants and some in good circumstances ; might have a 
better schoolhouse." No. 14 has a good frame house, in 
good condition, pleasant location, with ample and beautiful 
playground ; schoolroom in clean condition. The visiters 
add, " In this district the inhabitants are poor, and the 
scholars attend irregularly ; the house was built by one man 
in low circumstances, who has a large family of boys to edu- 
cate ; a noble act.'''' No. 15 has a frame house, in a good, 
warm, and comfortable condition, with a pleasant and retired 
location and a playground. No. 16 has a log shanty for a 
schoolhouse. No. 17, " no regidar schoolhouse other than 
some old log house." No 18, no schoolhouse. No. 19, a 
log shanty. No. 20 and 21 are new districts. No. 22 has 
a frame schoolhouse, in good repair and pleasantly situated. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 173 

'I'nus. out ot rweniv-»wu scuijoIHoushs, uo< (iiore man p-vo 
ir*- itjporir.i.l rt.- irapnct^nie oi ooniloriaDic . .iiiuc uav« auy 

but one of them, according to the visiters, has a privy. — Re- 
port (1840), p. 142. 

I will quote but one other example. It is from the report 
of the only tow^n in the county of Oswego retiu-ned as vis- 
ited in 1840-1. " The same fault," says the visiter, "ex- 
ists in most of our schoolhouses that is common throughout 
this section : they are placed too near the road ; no play- 
ground attached ; no privy (in most cases) ; too much ex- 
posed to the noise of all passers-by ; the windows are too 
low, so much so as to be very convenient for the scholars, 
on hearing a noise, to look out and see what is going on. 
There is, in general, too little attention to having good and 
dry wood provided, or a good supply of any ; or to have a 
woodhouse or shelter to keep it from the storm ;* though 
I would say that the districts, as a whole, have within a few 
years improved much." — Report (1841), p. 52. 

It is also a subject of frequent complaint in these reports, 
that the seats are too high (too high, say the visiters in one 
case, for a man of six feet, and all alike), and are, therefore, 
uncomfortable for the cliildren, as well as productive of 
much disorder. " We have found," says the report from one 
town, " except in one school, all the seats and desks much 
too high, and in that one they were recently cut down at our 
recommendation. In many of our schools, a considerable 
nimiber of children are crowded into the same seat, and com- 
monly those seated beyond the entering place have no means 
of getting at their seats but by climbing over those already 
seated, and to the ruin of all regard to cleanliness." 

" We have witnessed much uneasiness, if not suffering, 

* Another neglect, noticed by many of the visiters, is the cold and 
comfortless state, in which the children find the schoolroom ; owing 
to the late hour, at which the fire is first made in the morning. 

P 2 



174 THE SCHOOL AND 

anioriiJ ide ctiildien, trom ifie dau^lma ot iheir iei^s troni a 
tligli seat, and, with Uie one exception," nave seen liieiii ai- 
temptiiig to write on deaks so high uiat, instead ol the el- 
bow resting to assist the hand in guiding the pen, the whole 
arm has, of necessity, been stretched out ; for, if they did 
not this, they must write rather by guess than sight, unless 
some one may have the fortune to be near-sighted, and, 
from this defect, succeed in seeing his work. This is a 
great evil, and ought to be remedied before we complain of 
the incompetency of teachers." — Report (1841), p. 38. 

These specimens will serve to show, how far many of 
the schoolhoiises, in this state, are pleasant places of resort, 
or study, and in what degi-ee they are likely to inspire a re- 
spect for education, or a desire to enjoy and improve its ad- 
vantages. We do not look for deep religious feeling, in a 
community, who occupy good dwelling-houses, but are con- 
tent to worship in poor and neglected churches ; nor do 
we expect, great reverence for Christianity, from children, if 
the sanctuary to v.'hich they are earned on Sunday is old 
and dilapidated — disfigured by abuse — without paint — its 
windows broken — and not a shrub, or tree, or square yard 
of verdure in its neighbourhood. The schoolhouse is dedi- 
cated to education, as the house of v/orship is to religion. 
In one case, as in the other, tlie state of the edifice indi- 
cates the regard, which its builders and guardians have, for 
the object to which they have devoted it. Nor this only 
The condition and aspect of the building, with its appenda 
ges and surrounding landscape, are inseparably associated, 
in a child's mind, with his first day at school, and his first 
thoughts about education. Is it well, then, that these ear- 
liest, most lasting, and most controlling associations, should 
be charged with so much that is offensive ? Is it to be ex- 
pected, that the youthful mind can regard that as the cause, 
next to religion, most important of all others, which is up- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 175 

held and promoted, in such buildings, as the district school- 
Qouse usually is '. Among the most comfortiess and wreici i- 
ed leueiiients, wJiich the pupii ever euierss, ne ctunKs ol it 
witti repugnance ; the tasks which it iniposes, he dreads ; 
and he at length takes his leave of it, as of a prison, from 
which he is but too happy to escape. 

This seems to me, to be the greatest evil, connected with 
our schoolhouses. But their deleterious effect, on health, is 
also to be considered. Air which has been once respired 
by the lungs, parts with its healthy properties, and is no 
longer fit for use. Hence a number of persons, breathing 
the air of the same apartment, soon contamhiate it, unless 
the space is very large, or unless there is some provision 
for the introduction of fresh, as well as the exclusion of foid 
air. This ventilation is especially important for school- 
houses, since they are usually small in proportion to the 
number of scholars ; the scholars remain together a long 
while at once, and are less cleanly in their personal habits 
than adults. Yet, important as it is, probably not one com- 
mon school in fifty, in this state, will be found supplied 
with adequate means to effect it. The cracks and crevices, 
which abound in om- schoolhouses, admit quite enough of cold 
air in winter, but not enough of fresh. What is wanted at 
that season, for both health and economy, is a constant sup 
ply of fresh warm air ; and this is easily obtained by caus- 
ing the air, as it enters from without, to pass through heated 
flues, or over heated surl'aces. Another simple expedient 
for ventilating schoolhouses, is to adjust the upper sash of 
the windows, so that it can be lowered ; instead of raising 
the lower sash and opening the door, a practice which, in 
cold weather, is always hazardous to those over whom the 
current of fresh cold air passes. 

It is also important, to the health of scholars and teachers 
in common schools, that the rooins should be larger and 



176 THE SCHOOL AND 

liave liigher ceilings ; and that much more scrupulous atten- 
tion should be paid, to the cleanliness of both the room and 
its inmates. " An evil," say the visiters of one of the 
towns, " greater than the variety of schoolbooks or the 
want of necessary apparatus, is having schoolrooms so un- 
skilfully made and arranged. Of our 13 schoolrooms, only 
3 are ten feet high, and of the residue only one is over 
eight feet. The stupidity arising from foul, oft-breathed 
air, is set down as a grave charge against the capacity of 
the scholars or the energy of the teacher. A room for 30 
children, allowing 12 square feet for each child, is low at 
1 feet, and for every additional ten children an extra foot 
in elevation is absolutely necessary, to enable the occupants 
of the room to breathe freely." — Report (1841), p. 38. 

II. Are common schools so conducted, as to pi'omvte hab- 
its of neatness and order, and cultivate good manners and re- 
fined feelings ? These are important to all children, but all 
have not, at home, the same facilities for acquiring them. 
Hence, unless cultivated at school, they can never reach 
many children at all, especially at that period in life, when 
impressions are made most easily and deeply. Even where 
this is not the case, and home affords, in these respects, the 
most salutary influence, children still need attention, at 
school, to counteract the pernicious example of coarse com- 
panions, as well as their own strong propensity to careless- 
ness and irregularity. What are our schools, then, in this 
respect ? 

From the quotations already made from the reports of visi- 
ters, it appears that the schoolrooms, in many cases, were not 
clean ; and the same thing is often alleged of the children. 
I will add but one other passage, to which I happen to open 
on p. 39 of the Report (1840). It relates to a town con- 
taining 24 school districts, of which 16 were visited. Of 
these 16, one quarter are represented to have Been almost 
entirely regardless of neatness and order, viz. : No. 4 " has 



THE SCHOOL.MASTER. 177 

a dirty schoolroom, and the appearance ot the children was 
dirty and sickly." No. 2 "• has a dirty schoolroom, incon- 
veniently arranged, and ventilated alt over ;" the children 
" rather dirty," and no means of supplying fresh water ex- 
cept from the neighbour's pails and cups. No. 3 has " an 
extremely dirty schoolroom, Avithout ventilation, the children 
not clean, and no convenience for water." No. 24 " has a 
schoolhouse out of repair, dirty, and inconvenient in its ar- 
rangements." 

It is also a subject of almost universal complaint, that the 
schoolhouses are without privies. On an average, probably 
not more than one in twenty, of the schoolhouses throughout 
the state, has this appendage ; and in these, it was almost in- 
variably found, by the visiters, to be in a bad state. This 
fact speaks volumes, of the attention, which is paid at these 
schools, to delicacy of manners, and refinement of feeling. 
None but the very poorest families think of living without 
such a convenience at home ; and a man, who should build 
a good dwelling-house, but provide no place for retirement 
when performing the most private offices of nature, would be 
thought to give the clearest evidence, of a coars3 and brutal 
mind. Yet respectable parents allow their children to go to 
a school where this is the case ; and where the evil is great- 
ly aggravated by the fact, that numbers of both sexes are col- 
lected, and that, too, at an age of extreme levity, and when 
the youthful mind is prone to the indulgence of a prurient 
imagination. Says one of the visiters (^Report, 1840, p. 77), 
" In most cases in this town, the scholars, male and female, 
are tinned promiscuously and simultaneously into the public 
highway, without the shelter of so much (in the old districts) 
as a ' stump' for a covert to the calls of nature. The bane- 
ful tendency, on the young and pliant sensibilities, of this 
barbarous custom, are truly lamentable." So the visiters of 
one of the largest and oldest counties : " We regret to per- 
ceive that many of the districts have neglected to erect priv- 



178 THE SCHOOL AND 

ies for the use of the children at school. This is a lam- 
entable error. The injury to the taste and morals of the 
children which will naturally result from this neglect, is of 
a character much more serious than the discomfort which 
is obviously produced by it." — {Report, 1840, p. 131.) 

III. We have said, that schools shoidd be so conducted 
as to strengthen the moral sentiments of children, and rear 
them to habits of virtue and purity. There is probably no 
one respect, in which they so generally, or so grievously 
fail of their object. In the reports of visiters already often 
referred to, there is scarcely an allusion to the subject ; and 
though this silence may have been owing, in part, to the 
hasty manner in which the inspection, in that instance, was 
necessarily conducted, it must have been owing, still more 
to the fact, that the importance of moral culture is not appre- 
ciated. Common schools have been regarded, as nurseries 
of the intellect only. Parents and teachers have seemed 
to think, that there would be opportunities enough, at home, 
for the cultivation of the heart and conscience. They have 
forgotten that, while men sleep, the enemy comes and sows 
tares; that if the all-important work of moral training be 
suspended each day, for some hours, while the child is re- 
moved beyond the parental eye, and is mingling promiscu- 
ously with his schoolmates, he can hardly escape injury. 
Vicious influences will rain down upon his mind from vari- 
ous sources ; and hence one, who is improving fast in 
knowledge, may be ripening yet faster in wickedness ; and 
though he bears to his home the highest character as a 
scholar, he may be losing, meanwhile, all that makes schol- 
arship a blessing, either to himself or to the world. 

When we urge the importance of moral culture in schools, 
we do not mean that the teacher should deal only, or often, 
in long moral lectures. We would remind him, that exam- 
pie is the most impressive of all teachers ; and that he can- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 179 

not live and move, so constantly, in the presence of suscep- 
tible and watchful minds, without making, by his deport- 
ment, a deep impression on their characters. We would 
remind him, too, that there are various sources of tempta- 
tion at school ; such as the influence of one or more corrupt 
companions ; the rivalries and contentions to which the 
young as well as old are liable ; the absence of restraint 
during play -hours, and while children are passing to and fro, 
between the schoolhouse, and the home. All these are 
points, about which teachers, and all who take an interest in 
schools, or who feel for the safety and vv^elfare of their own 
offspring, can hardly be too solicitous, or too vigilant. 

There is one kind of moral training and instruction, little 
known in our schools, and too much neglected even in oiu: 
families, which appears, to me, pre-eminently important. It 
is based on the principle, that the virtues are habits, and are 
to be acquired thoroughly, only by acting repeatedly, in the 
right manner, from the right motive. To cultivate virtue in 
this way requires, not so much formal precepts or lectures, 
as incidental but constant inculcation. Whenever a child 
does wrong, he should, in the kindest and most private man- 
ner, be taught to feel and own it ; and opportunity should be 
given him, to act on the opposite principle. In all his rela- 
tions, whether with teachers, parents, schoolfellows, or 
others, he should be accustomed to inquire, always, after 
the right, and to observe it. There should be a code of 
school-morals, to embrace thoughts and feelings as well 'as 
overt acts, and to be administered, under the jurisdiction of 
the child's own conscience, and sense of honour. With in- 
junctions to virtuous effort, should be joined frequent me- 
mentoes of his own frailty and insufficiency, and of the ne- 
cessity of Divine aid and illumination. In administering 
the discipline of the school, the teacher should be careful to 
carry with him the moral sense of his pupils, and to have it 
felt, that he will pmiish whenever the sanctity of lav/ and 
the welfare of the school demand it, bvit nevi-r otb-vwisc. 



180 THE SCHOOL AND 

It is much to be deplored, that principles, so obvious and 
important as these, should have come to be so generally dis- 
regarded. No one imagines, that a young man can be train- 
ed to make a good shoe or a good coat, except by repeated 
trials, and persevering effort. Yet we do seem to expect, 
that he will be a calm and placable man who has been only 
irascible and vindictive as a boy. We do forget, that in one 
most important sense, the "boy is father of the man." We 
seem to think that, thou;;h his youthful mind has been al- 
lowed to revel without check amid images of shame, he 
may still be chaste at last ; that a long series of evasive, 
or self-indulgent or criminal acts, may only end in honesty, 
temperance, and patience ; and that, though he sow, through 
all his childhood and youth, to the jlesh, still it need not 
follow that he must of the flesh reap corruption. 



SECTION III. 

PRESENT STATE OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 

" In proportion as the discoveries in arts multiply, and as we make 
progress in improvement, in like proportion ought the moral and in- 
tellectual condition of the species to rise ; the progress of civiliza- 
tion does not depend alone on the increase of wealth ; it chiefly de- 
pends on tlie unproved moral and intellectual condition of the popu- 
lation." — De Gerando. 

IV. We have to inquire, in the next place, whether our 
schools tend to cultivate good intellectual habits, among the 
rising generation ; and to inspire them with a liberal taste for 
knowledge? If they fail, in too many cases, to inculcate 
high moral principles, and to cherish refinement of thought, 
feeling, and manner, they ought, at least, to fulfil the one 
end to which most of them profess to be devoted : this is 
the development, and cultivation, of intellect. During a pe- 
riod of ten or more years, most of our children are nomi- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 181 

nally at school. Does their proficiency correspond with 
the opportunities, which they seem to enjoy ? 

It is now many years since Dr. Dwight, speaking of the 
common schools of Connecticut, declared that they consu- 
med ten years in teaching badly what ought, in two, or, at 
most, three years, to be learned well. More recently, the 
late De Witt Clinton thus expressed himself in one of his 
messages : " Our system of instruction, with all its numer- 
ous benefits, is still susceptible of great improvements. 
Ten years, of the life of a child, may now be spent in a 
common school. In two years the elements of instruction 
may be acquired ; and the remaining eight years must be 
spent either in repetition or in idleness, unless the teach- 
ers of common schools are competent to instruct in the 
higher branches of knowledge. The outlines of Geogra- 
phy, Mineralogy, Agricultural Chemistry, Mechanical Phi- 
losophy, Surveying, Geometry, Astronomy, Political Econ- 
omy, and Ethics, might be communicated in that period 
of time by able preceptors, without essential interference 
with the calls of domestic industry." 

More than fifteen years have elapsed since this passage 
was written, and it may be well to inquire, how far the im- 
provements, it suggests, have been introduced. I would re- 
mark, however, that no child should be advanced to higher 
branches of study, until he has been made perfectly familiar 
with those, which form the indispensable groundwork of all 
knowledge. The leas<^ that can be demanded of any com- 
mon school is, that it make ail its pupils thoroughly profi- 
cient in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the use of the 
English language. How is this minimum requirement ful- 
filled, by the common schools of this state ? 

The reader is qualified to answer this question for him- 
self. He is surrounded, by the young of both sexes, who 
are leaving these schools, and who are never more to enjoy 
their advantages. In the daily business of life, he meets 
Q 



182 THE SCHOOL AND 

those who have had no other scholastic culture. If, then, 
he would know what our common schools are doing for the 
intellectual education of our people, let him endeavour to 
collect, from his own neighbourhood, correct replies to the 
following interrogatories. 

What proportion, of those who leave these schools, or are 
known to have been educated at them, can read aloud from 
any book, which may chance to fall into their hands ; and 
can do it so fluently, intelligently, and forcibly, as to afford 
both instruction and pleasur^, to those who listen 1 

What proportion of them have acquired the powder of wri- 
ting legibly and neatly, and are able to express themselves 
with perspicuity, propriety, and ease, in letters of business 
or friendship, and in other documents ? 

What proportion understand thoroughly the most impor- 
tant operations of arithmetic, and are able to apply the rules, 
promptly and correctly, to any questions that may arise in 
the course of business ? 

What proportion can point out, readily, the location of 
the important places, of which they are likely to read in the 
newspapers of the day, or in books of voyages, travels, his- 
tory, &c. ? 

What proportion are even moderately versed, in the his- 
tory of their own country, in the fundamental principles of 
its government and legislation, and in a knowledge of such 
laws, as bear most directly on their own and the common 
welfare ? 

Until this elementary knowledge is thoroughly mastered, 
it would be absurd to proceed to higher branches. The 
latter are desirable ; the former indispensable. Reading, 
writing, and arithmetic are implements, Avithout which, in 
the present state of society, a man can neither do business, 
nor make progress in self-education. In the process of ac- 
quiring them, his mind, if properly treated, will be materi- 
ally strengthened and enlarged ; and when once acquired, 



THE SCHOOLMASTER, 183 

the)'' render it both possible and easy, forhnn to advance in- 
tlefinitely in knowledge. One prevailing defect, of the ed- 
ucation of the present day, consists in the neglect of these 
rudiments. Teachers and parents are, both, too apt to for- 
get, that facts or principles can do little for the pupil's mind, 
if they are only deposited in his memory, without awaken- 
ing his imagination or exercising his understanding. Hence, 
without waiting to ground him thoroughly in the most es- 
sential elements, he is hurried forward to studies for which 
he is wholly unprepared, and which often require the exer- 
cise of our lijigher faculties. From these, again, so soon as 
he can repeat the prescribed portions of a text-book, he is 
hurried to others, equally remote from his tastes or prelimi- 
nary studies; and thus his whole education is made to con- 
sist, of a hasty and superficial survey of many subjects, 
which are no sooner dismissed, than they are forgotten. 

Sometimes, this prevailing and injurious practice is to be 
ascribed to the teacher alone, who does not seem to know 
that such attainments are worthless ; or who, if he does 
know it, is careless of his pupiFs welfare, and only intent on 
the honour, which he hopes to gain, from having accomplish- 
ed so much, with his classes, in so brief a space of time. 
Happy will it be, when the intelligence of the community 
enables them to discern the dishonesty, and quackery of 
such a system. It is but just, however, to add, that in 
many cases the fault is in parents, and their children. Say 
the visiters of one of the counties (1840), "Our common 
schools are not advancing in proportion to their cost. One 
reason is, that the children do not fully understand what 
they profess to learn. The system is too superficial. Pu- 
pils are eager to have it said, ' We have been through the 
book.' This expression has been made use of to us in sev- 
eral instances, when, at the same time, the scholars could not 
answer questions in the most fundamental rules. If schol- 
ars make a favourable report of progress, parents are very 



1S4 THE SCHOOL AND 

apt to receive it as correct without examination, and th» 
teacher who wishes to check this disposition to advance with- 
out knowledge, is very liable to incur the displeasure of both 
pupil and parent.''^ 

But, in whatever way this abuse originates, it is deeply to 
be deplored, and it ought to be strenuously resisted. No- 
thing can well be more unfavourable, to all true and high 
culture of the intellect. In so far as it leaves its victims 
ignorant, or uimccomplished,in regard to the veiy first rudi- 
ments of knowledge, it disqualifies them, by necessity, for 
all thorough and rapid progress, in more advanced studies. 
It also induces loose and inaccurate habits of investigation •; 
and these habits, being acquired early, are in most cases 
invincible ; proving fatal to thorough scholarship, and to in- 
tellectual efforts of the most useful and commanding char- 
acter. It tends, moreover, to engender a spirit of self-suffi- 
ciency in the young, and a feeling of satiety in regard to 
books and mental cultivation, Avhich are wholly incompati- 
ble with self-culture. "There is nothing," says Erasmus, 
in one of his Colloquies, " more pernicious than to be glut- 
ted with anything ; and so likewise with knowledge." '• I 
hate," says Dr. Johnson, " by-roads in education. Endeav- 
ouring to make children prematurely wise is useless labour. 
Suppose they have more knowledge at five or six years 
old than other children, what use can be made of it ? It 
will be lost before it is wanted, and the waste of so much 
time and labour of the teacher can never be repaid. Too 
much is expected from precocity, and too little performed." 

It is difficult to say, whether the evil, here referred to, be 
more inveterate, or prevalent. A wordy, superficial rote- 
method of teaching and learning, may be regarded as, at this 
time, the great and special bane of our common schools. 
That there are many honourable exceptions, I know well. 
But in too many cases, text-books are relied on to do the 
work of the teacher ; and hence these books have been sim- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 185 

plified, and furnished with questions, and encumbered with 
commentaries, as if the great object, were, to supersede all 
effort, on the part both of instructer and learner. In this 
way, too, that active and ardent collision of mind between 
the two, which forms the secret of all good intellectual in- 
struction, comes to be hardly known. The pupil studies 
words, not principles ; tasks his memorj'^ much, his judg- 
ment little ; and a foolish ambition to have it said, that much 
ground has been passed over, or many branches pursued, 
usurps the place of that true ambition, which aims at a rad- 
ical and thorough culture ; one that draws out, disciplines, 
vivifies, and strengthens, all the faculties of the soul. Such 
a culture may impart less knowledge, but it will be found 
to make that which it imparts, the pupil's own forever ; and 
it will, at the same time, give such a spring to the intellect- 
ual powers, as to ensure future advancement. 

I ought, perhaps, in closing this subject, to add, that, so 
soon as a child has mastered the common branches, so that 
he reads, both aloud and mentally, with ease and under- 
standing, writes a good hand, and is familiar Avith the most 
important processes in arithmetic, he ought to be advanced 
to other studies. The great fault, at present, is, that he is 
advanced too soon ; takes up many branches before he is 
prepared for them ; and pursues too great a number, at the 
same time. The result is, that his mind is distracted ; no 
one of them is studied thoroughly ; one text-book having 
been despatched, another, perhaps on the same subject, is 
introduced ; and the child is, in effect, occupied during most 
of Ids school life, in retracing ground over which he has 
already travelled — doing it, however, in such a manner, that 
his interest is deadened, his powers of discrimination im- 
paired, and his mind fixed, and almost petrified, in habits of 
torpid and vacant listlessness. The concurrent testimony 
of those who have examined common schools most exten 
Q 2 



186 THE SCHOOL AND 

sively and thoroughly, both in our own and other states, 
represents that, in very many cases, 

1. They fail to teach even the common branches thor- 
oughly. 

2. They engender, or encourage, loose and superficial 
habits of thought, and study. 

3. They fail to inspire a love for the reading of good and 
useful books. 

4. The pupils, in many instances, continue stationary, from 
year to year. 

IRREGULARITY OF ATTENDANCE, ABSENCE, &;C. 

V. The last great requisite in our common school sys- 
tem, is, that its benefits should be enjoyed, by all the children 
of the state, not otherwise instructed. Though the best pos- 
sible schools were opened, in every neighbourhood, they 
would be useless to those who never attend, and of but par- 
tial service, to those who attend irregularly. There are 
many children of both classes in this state. 

Of those toho never attend. This class includes children 
of both foreigners, and natives. The former, usually arrive 
in this country, poor. Many of them are unable to speak 
our language ; some of them do not appreciate the necessity 
and importance of education ; others lead a vagrant life, as 
labourers on canals and railroads, or as hired workmen.* 

* The children of persons employed upon our public works, says 
the secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, in a late 
report, heretofore have not shared in the provisions for education 
made by our laws, and have rarely been embraced in any of the nu- 
merous plans for moral improvement devised and sustained by pri- 
vate charity ; and hence they have been growing up in the midst 
of our institutions, uninstructed even in those rudiments of knowl- 
edge without which self-education is hardly practicable. Durmg 
the last year, a few of the inhabitants of the town of Middleiield 
(which is situated in the western part of Hampshire county), com- 
miserating the destitute condition of the children along the line of 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 187 

In some of these cases it is impossible to make an English 
common school available. More frequently, however, the 

the railroad in their vicinity, took active measures to supply them 
with the means of instruction. A gentleman of that town, Mr. Al- 
exander Ingham, was the first to engage in, and has been most ac- 
tive in carrying on this Samaritan enterprise. The good example 
extended, and a considerable number of children along the line of 
work were soon gathered, either into the public schools, or, where 
that was impracticable, into schools established expressly for them 
at private expense. At the Common School Convention in the 
county of Hampden, held in the month of August last, the condition 
of these children, and the necessity of some farther measures in 
their behalf, constituted one of the topics of inquiry and discussion. 
A committee was appointed, of which Mr. Ingham was chairman, to 
collect the facts of the case. From this committee I have learned 
that there were, in the month of September last, more than three 
hundred cluldren, between the ages of four and sixteen, belonging 
to the labourers on the railroad west of Connecticut River, who 
were not considered as entitled to the privileges of the public 
schools, or were in such a local situation as not to be able to attend 
them. A pregnant fact, also, in relation to the subject is, that, in 
the enumeration of all the children of all ages belonging to that 
class of people, " a large proportion of them are under the age of 
four years." Owing to efforts since made by private individuals, a 
very large majority of all these children who are of a suitable age 
are now enjoying the benefits of common school education. 

There is still another class, says the late secretary of the Con- 
necticut Board of Education, who are among the absentees from 
schools : I refer to coloured children. There is no reluctance to 
include them in the enumeration return. Why, then, should not 
the district, or society, or city authorities, see to their education ? 
Their education would be cheaper to the community than their 
crimes and vices, which are the offspring of neglect and ignorance. 
While the blacks constitute but one twentieth of our population, 
they furnish about one eighth of all the crime of the state. It costs 
the state annually, to prosecute and convict the coloured inmates 
of the prison alone, a sum sufficient to educate nearly all the col- 
oured children of the state between the ages of four and sixteen. 
Separate schools for this class of children exist in Hartford, and 
perhaps elsewhere. They should be opened in all wir large citiea. 



188 THE SCHOOL AND 

difficulty results from the inability, or indifference of pa- 
rents, and the culpable negligence of the community. It 
ought to be considered the duty of some one, to search out 
such forlorn and unhappy children, and bring them to the 
notice, as well of the trustees of the school districts in 
which they respectively reside, as to that of benevolent in- 
dividuals. The children of temporary or transient residents 
are entitled, by law, to attend the school in their respective dis- 
tricts ; and it is even made the duty of trustees, whenever 
it shall be necessary for their accommodation, to hire tem- 
porarily, an additional room or rooms for that purpose. This 
duty is imposed on the trustees, because they are author- 
ized, by the sam.e law, to include all such transient children 
in their returns ; and to draw money from the treasury of 
the state, for their instruction. It is superfluous to add, that 
this money ought to be regarded as a sacred trust, held for 
their exclusive benefit, and to be diverted to no other ob- 
ject. Too often, however, the poor foreigner, or labourer 
on the canal, remains ignorant of this benevolent provision 
of the state in his behalf; and when, in other cases, he 
would avail himself of it, obstructions are sometimes placed 
in his way, lest, in consequence of the presence of his poor 
children in the school, the expenses of the wealthy inhab- 
itants should be slightly increased. When we exclude them 
under such circumstances, is it considered that we, in effect, 
appropriate to our own use what is not ours, having been 
given simply as a deposite for the stranger and the destitute ? 
The children of many native, and other citizens, are also 
to be found among those, Avho never attend school.* In too 

There is, I should think, power enough already in the school socie- 
ties to do this. If not, for these and other purposes, cities should 
be clothed with the power of school societies. 

* " Next to our cities, the largest number of children not in at- 
tendance on any school, public or private, is found in the districts 
in which are located <"actories and manufacturing establishments. 



THE feCHOOLMASTEU. 189 

many instances, this results from the profligate habits of the 
parents, who are wholly regardless of the welfare of their 
offspring ; in other cases, it should be charged to an igno- 
rance Avhich cannot comprehend the advantages of educa- 
tion ; and in others, again, to extreme indigence, which dis- 
ables a parent from providing proper clothes, or renders the 
presence and assistance of the child necessary to the sup- 
port of the family. In ordinary/ cases of indigence, it ought 
to he understood, that the law, as it now stands, recognises the 
RIGHT of every poor child, to share in the instruction imparted 
hy common schools. Of this right, everj^ parent should feel,- 

The comparative cheapness of the labour of females and of chil- 
dren, where it can be resorted to at all, has led to its extensive in- 
troduction into factories, to the exclusion, as far as possible, of the 
more costly labour of men. From a statement in a report to the 
Legislature of Jilassachusetts a few years since, it appeared that 
more than 200,000 females are employed in the various manufac- 
turing establishments of the United States. Most of this number 
are young ; many are still of the proper school age. In this single 
fact are involved considerations of the most weighty character as 
to the influence of such establishments, which have grown up all 
about us, and, from the peculiar advantages of Connecticut, are 
likely to increase still farther, upon the future destinies of the state 
and the country. One thing is clear, from the experience of the 
past, both at home and abroad, tliat about such establishments will 
always be gathered a large number of parents who, either from de- 
fective education in themselves, or from the pressure of immediate 
want, or from the selfishness which is fostered by finding profitable 
employ for their children, do not avail themselves of the means of- 
fered by the state, and not unfrequently increased by the liberality 
of the proprietors, to secure an education for their children. In 
addition to these influences, the self-interest of proprietors is a 
temptation constantly operating to withdraw children of both sexes 
at too early an age from the schoolroom to the employment of the 
factories, which, if always healthful, are not the proper training- 
ground for the moral and mental habits of the future men and 
women of the state." — Report of the Secretary of the Board of EAucor 
(ion in Connecticut. 



190 THE SCHOOL AND 

himself bound, as well as entitled, to take advantage. If he 
can pay, wholly or in part, his spirit as a free and a Chris- 
tian man should constrain him to do it; but if he cannot, 
let him know, that the trustees of the district are obliged, hy 
law to exempt him, and to levy the necessary amount, as a tax 
on the property of that district. And it ought to be consid- 
ered a sacred duty of trustees, to administer this law in its 
true spirit, and to use their influence to bring every child 
within their bounds, to share its blessings. These children 
will presently be men and women ; their influence will be 
felt in families — in the operations of industry — at the polls. 
Let all, then, who are charged by the state with the care 
of common schools, and all who feel that, as individuals, 
they owe something to their country and the world, see to 
it, that these children are trained up in the way that they 
should go, that when they are old they may not depart 
from it. 

These various causes cannot but exclude vast numbers of 
children from our schools. It was recently estimated, by the 
Superintendent of Common Schools of this State, that in the 
city of New- York alone, there are more than thirty thousand 
children, who go to no school at all. Similar estimates have 
been made in regard to other cities, and villages throughout 
the state, and it has been found, that a proportion of the chil- 
dren of these places, varying from one third to one tenth, seem 
destitute of all visible means of education. It is not supposed, 
that such calculations can be received with implicit confi- 
dence. In some instances the evil has doubtless been ex- 
aggerated ; in others, the important fact has been overlook- 
ed, that children kept from school at one season, or in one 
year, may attend in another, and that, in the present state 
of public opinion, few children are likely to grow up, in our 
country, without some scholastic instruction. Still it must 
be admitted, that the records of our jails and prisons do show 
a fearful proportion, who are unable to read and write. The 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 191 

late census, likewise, disclosed the astounding fact, that in 
some comities of this state, as many as one out of every ten 
adult inhabitants (in one county it was one out of every five) 
could neither read nor write. It is computed, that five thou- 
sand boys, of a proper age to attend school, are employed, 
on the Erie and Hudson Canal, as drivers during eight 
months of the year, and it is supposed that few of them at- 
tend school at all.* If to these, we add the children who 
are employed in manufactories, and the offspring of foreign- 
ers recently arrived in the country, or speaking a different 
language, or engaged on public works ; and if to these, we 
add, again, those w^hose parents are too depraved, or too in- 
different, or too poor to send them to school, we shall have 
a vast and fearful aggregate, who are growing up without 
any proper culture. Ability to read, some of them may ac- 
quire, by attending a Sunday School occasionally ; but how 
meager is such instruction, when compared with the wants 
of the citizen, the Christian, and the man. 

2. Those who attend irregularly. It must be apparent, on 
slight reflection, that the best schools can do little for those 
who are frequently absent. By such absences, a child for- 
feits his standing in his class, and is disqualified from ad- 
vancing with the requisite speed and accuracy. He forms 
habits of irregidarity, and soon becomes listless or discour- 
aged. His absences tend, also, to disorganize the school, 
and to add, grievously, to the labours and vexations of the 
teacher. One needs not be surprised, then, if, where the at- 
tendance of scholars at school is not only suspended, for 
some months each year, but is extremely irregular at other 
times, that in such cases, the proficiency is very slight. 

It is worthy of remark, that, until lately, the gi-eat impor- 
tance of this subject, seems to have been overlooked. In 
the returns of school officers, no distinction was made be- 
tween the total, and the average, attendance ; the whole 

♦ It is said that three thousand of these boys are orphans ! 



192 THE SCHOOL AND 

number registered, throughout the year, being reported as at- 
tendants. Some of these might have been present but a few 
days ; others but a few weeks ; and others, again — having 
entered, withdrawn, and entered a second, or even a third 
time within the same year — -might be returned twice or 
ihrice over. In this way, the returns have been swelled, 
until the number reported as at school has, in several in- 
stances, been greater than the whole number of children 
between the ages of 5 and 16 in the state, and this, though 
many thousands were known to be in select schools and acad- 
emies ; and though thousands, besides, entered no school- 
house at all. By the same means, the average nominal pe- 
riod, during which common schools have been kept open, was 
extended to eight months, though it is not believed, that the 
average attendance of the scholars exceeded half that time. 
Within the last few years, a corrective has been applied, in 
some of the states, by adopting a new form of making re 
ports, and in all, public attention has been directed to the 
necessity of producing greater regularity.* 

I quote from the last school returns of Massachusetts, to 
show the magnitude of the evil, in that state. Say the 
school committee of a large and populous town, " Although 
able teachers have been employed, the school registers, ac- 
curately kept through the summer and winter terms, show 
an average daily attendance which is less than one half 
of the whole number of scholars." Say the committee of 
another town, " The school registers have brought to light 
one of the most prominent evils which exist in our schools, 

* In the State of New- York, trustees of school districts will be 
required to report, hereafter, " the number of pupils who have at- 
tended for a term less than two months in each year ; the number 
attending two and less than four months ; the number attending 
four and less than six months ; the number attending six and less 
than eight months ; the number attending eight and less than ten 
months ; and the number attending twelve months."— See Staiutea 
relating to Common iicltaoU, <$-c., p. 14S. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 193 

and wliich has existed from time immemorial, and which 
tvould have remained undiscovered, or been but partially re- 
vealed^ probably, for years, if not centuries, but for the aid of 
that or of some similar contrivance. They have disclosed 
the astounding fact that, even in this town, a little more 
than one fourth part of the money raised for the support of 
schools is annually lost, actually throion away, and has been 
so for years. It is found, by consulting these registers, 
that the average attendance of the scholars, in all the schools, 
is a fraction less than three fourths of the whole number of 
scholars belonging to the schools, which shows that a fraction 
more than one fourth part of the time allowed for the culti- 
vation of the minds of our children, and, consequently, the 
same proportional part of the school money, is squandered 
away by the irregular attendance of the scholars. If we 
extend these inquiries to other towns, through the state, we 
find that the proportion materially increases, and, in the 
whole, taken collectively, it exceeds one third. For out of a 
little more than 477,000 dollars, raised for the support of 
schools in the state, more than 200,000 dollars are annual- 
ly directly thrown away by this voluntary abandonment of 
privileges. But this enormous waste of money is but an 
atom in the scale when weighed against the opportunities 
neglected lohich can never be recalled. Nor is this the ex- 
tent of the evil : whenever any scholar unnecessarily ab- 
sents himself from the school, or is unnecessarily detained 
by his parents, not only is so much of his time lost, and (as 
it regards him) so much of the school money is lost, but 
the whole school suffers, by the interruption, in the arrange- 
ment and progress of the class." 

It appears, then, that in the State of Massachusetts, more 
than one third of the whole number of scholars are absent, 
on an average, each day. If such is the fact, and it seems 
verified by precise and authentic returns, the absences in 
the State of New-York must form a still greater propor- 
R 



1 94 THE SCHOOL AND 

tion. All the causes which can operate in Massachusetts 
to produce irregular attendance, exist here, and, in addition 
to them, there is another and powerful cause, which oper- 
ates, probably, in no other state. There, the parent pays 
alike, whether his child be present or absent ; here, he pays 
only when he is present. The teacher is required, by law, 
to keep an exact record of the number of days and half 
days that each child attends, not for the purpose of enabling 
the inspectors, superintendent, and public to know how far 
parents and children avail themselves of the advantages of 
school, but that the teacher may know how much shall be 
deducted from each employer's rate-bill on account of ab- 
sences. In this way a premium is, by law, actually offered 
to the parent to induce him to detain his children from school, 
or to gratify them when they wish to stay away. Nor this 
alone. As though it were not enough, to subject a teacher 
to the inconvenience and pecuniary loss, which he incurs 
by this arrangement, he is himself compelled to keep a rec- 
ord of it, for the benefit of the parent. It is difficult to con- 
ceive a more preposterous law. As a rule, no private 
school would tolerate it ; and if, in Massachusetts, where it 
is happily unknown, the average absentees of each day form 
more than one third of the whole number of scholars on 
record, there can be little doubt that, in this state, under the 
fostering hand of such a law, they must have swelled to at 
least one half. 

We have thus reviewed the condition, and character of 
our common schools. We have endeavoured, to ascertain 
the influence which they are likely to exert on health, man- 
ners, and morals, as well as on intellectual improvement. 
It has been our anxious desire, neither to exaggerate, nor to 
extenuate, the evils which prevail. As Ave remarked at the 
outset, such general statements must be qualified in favour 
of many instances, in which, teachers are capable and faith- 
ful, school-officers are vigilant, and parents both liberal and 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 195 

attentive. It must be admitted, too, that, witli all their im- 
perfections, these schools still do render unspeakable ser- 
vice, by affording, to our entire population, some opportuni- 
ties for instruction. It is to be considered, farther, that oui 
institutions, and the state and prospects of our country, exert 
an animating influence on the minds of our people, which is 
felt powerfully everywhere, and which renders the most 
imperfect instruments more efficient and useful with us, than 
they could be under older or less popular governments. If 
tried by a strict scholastic test, it may be doubted, whether 
our common schools are greatly in advance of those which 
were spread over the states of Germany when Frederic the 
Great first undertook the work of their regeneration ; a 
work which has been advancing ever since, with the high- 
est success. There can be no question, however, that their 
usefulness is immeasurably greater. 

Our present common school system was established, 
something more than twenty -five years since. The effect 
of it has been, to add immensely to the number of schools, 
as well as to diminish the expense of the people in sup- 
porting them. It is sometimes suggested, however, that 
this system has not contributed, in the same proportion, to 
improve the character and efficiency of our schools, and that 
in these respects they have, in fact, deteriorated. On this 
point, various opinions are advanced by the special visiters 
before referred to. In the estimation of some of them, the 
schools are decidedly less thorough in their methods of 
teaching, and secure less actual proficiency, than they did 
twenty years ago. In the opinion of others, they are more 
advanced, and have been improving rapidly, especially, for 
the last four or five years. 

It is believed that both of these opinions are in a degree 
correct, and that they will be found less discordant than 
they appear to be at first sight. The immediate effect of 
the establishment of common schools hy law, in 1815, was 



196 THE SCHOOL AND 

a great and sudden increase in their number, requiring an 
increase equally sudden and great, in the number of teach- 
ers. This sudden demand Avas of course supplied, in the 
first instance, by persons but poorly qualified ; and the evil 
was afterward perpetuated, by the unnecessary multiplica- 
tion of school districts, which had the twofold effect of ex- 
tending the demand for teachei-s too rapidly, and of so de- 
pressing the rate of wages, that i.^ne but persons of inferior 
qualifications could be obtained. Another serious evil,, 
which at first residted from the interposition of the state, 
was a great diminution of interest on the part of parents, and 
other citizens. So long as the support and supervision of 
the schools was left entirely to them, they felt the necessity 
of care, in selecting teachers, and in overlooking their pro- 
ceedings. When the law, however, provided for the ap- 
pointment of inspectors, and for the partial support of 
schools, employers naturally concluded, that less vigilance 
on their part would be sufficient. It ought, therefore, to 
have been expected, that the introduction of this system 
would tend, in the first instance, to depress the standard of 
teaching, though it might secure the extension of its bless- 
ings to all the inhabitants. 

Had this result been foreseen, it might have been pro- 
vided for. As this, however, was not the case, it is appre- 
hended that most persons who have had occasion to com- 
pare the state of common schools in 1822-6, with what they 
were previous to 1814, must have observed some degree of 
deterioration. When this deterioration became apparent, 
it led, in the first instance, to the establishment of se- 
lect schools, which, though they gave relief to a few of the 
more wealthy inhabitants, tended still farther to depress 
common schools, and thus to fasten the evils of a bad sys- 
tem on the community, in a manner which seemed at one 
time to defy remedy. Within the last few years, however, 
the necessity, and practicability of some reform, has been 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 197 

growing more and more apparent. Enlightened citizens 
have discovered, that good schools are important, not only to 
their own families, but to all ; that common schools Avill al- 
ways be preferred by most of the inhabitants ; that it is 
therefore of the utmost consequence that they should be 
good schools ; and that this can be the case, only when they 
unite in their support the wealth, respectability, and intelli- 
gence of the whole district. Hence select schools are de- 
creasing ; parents and employers bestow more care in the 
choice of a common school teacher ; more liberality is 
evinced in constructing schoolhouses, and defraying the 
expenses of instruction ; and much more personal attention 
is given to the character and operations of the school, and to 
its influence on the young. It must be admitted, however, , 
that the progress of this auspicious change has hitherto 
been slow, and that its influence now is lamentably circum- 
scribed. 

I proceed to inquire how it can be made general. 



SECTION IV. 

HOW CAN COMMON SCHOOLS BE IMPROVED ? 

" When, therefore, we attempt to construct institutions of educa- 
tion for the countless youth of centuries still to come, we enter on 
a task full of solicitude and responsibility, but full, also, of hope and 
promise." — Whewell. 

To be able to answer this question fully, we ought to as- 
certain the precise causes of the evils which we seek to 
remedy. It is believed that they may be included under 
the following heads : I. Want of interest on the part of pa- 
rents and others. II. Frequent change of teachers. III. 
Excessive multiplication of school districts. IV. Diversity 
of class-books. V. Teachers not qualified. VI. Defective 
supervision. We propose to examine each of these in their 
R 2 



19« THE SCHOOL AND 

order, and to endeavour to point out the appropriate correc- 
tives. 

1. Wa7it of interest on the part of parents, &c. — This is 
doubtless the sorest evil, wfii\i which we are called to con- 
tend. Indifference and neglect, on the part of those, who 
ought to feel the most lively concern for the welfare of out 
schools, cannot fail to chill the zeal of all other persons. 
Neither teacher, nor scholar, nor trustees can be expected 
to labour with ardour and perseverance, when they find no 
eympathy where they have the best right to expect it. 
This apathy manifests itself in many ways : in the prefer- 
ence which is so frequently given to the poorest teachers, 
provided only that they are the cheapest; in permitting 
children to be irregular in their attendance ; in the neglect 
of parents to visit the school, that they may know whether 
the teacher understands his duty and discharges it ; in omit- 
ting such examination of the children at home as will ani- 
mate them to greater diligence, and, at the same time, reveal 
the true degree of their proficiency ; in allowing the schools 
to be closed for a large part of each year ; in opposing ev- 
ery plan which involves an increase of expense or efficien- 
cy ; and, finally, in encouraging a contentious spirit among 
the employers, and a want of respect towards the teacher. 

It would seem, at first, as if no man could have the least 
sense of the importance of schools, or of his, duty towards 
them, who gives his countenance to any one of these prac- 
tices. Charity, however, requires us to admit, that in some 
cases, this may be owing to ignorance, or inconsideration. 
All persons do not know that schools may, in some cases, 
be useless — in others, a positive nuisance. They usu- 
ally feel that education is very desirable, and, in the present 
state of the world, even necessary. They have built a 
schoolhouse, provided it with a teacher, supplied their chil- 
dren with books, and enjoined their attendance ; and it nev- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 199 

er occurs to many of them, that more can be necessary. 
When they propose to raise a crop of good marketable 
wheat, th^y are very careful to get the best seed, to see 
that the ground is carefully prepared to receive it, to have it 
deposited after the most approved manner, and to guard the 
young plant, at every stage of its growth, against noxious 
animals and every hostile influence. They trust no work- 
man, who is unacquainted with his business, and omit no pre- 
caution wliich can secure them against loss or injury. It 
is not possible that these men would refuse to apply the 
same care to the training of their children, if they felt it to 
be necessary. They do not feel this. They say that their 
children are at school, and that they intend to keep thciu 
there. They have yet to learn that all this maybe without 
benefit ; that morally they may become worse at school ; 
that even their intellectual tastes and habits may degenerate, 
and their prospects in life only be shrouded in deeper gloom. 
What, theU; is the remedy for this evil 1 It must be found, 
in a full and free discussion, before the j^eople, of the claims 
of common schools. Every means must be invoked by 
which, on other subjects, men are enlightened and aroused. 
The press must be made to speak ; not that portion of it 
only which is especially devoted to schools,* but the daily 
and weekly press ; also the magazine and the review. 
Meetings must be convened in every town and neighbour- 
hood, at which those who have hearts to feel, and minds to 
comprehend the vastness of this theme, may give utterance 
to their convictions. Arrangements must be made, to have 
these meetings recur frequently, and to secure the presence 
of those, whose opinions coimnand respect and attention.! 

* The District School Journal, edited by Francis Dwight, Esq., 
and published at Albany, under the supervision of the Superintend- 
ent of Common Schools, should be read and circulated. 

t The following remarks (from the last report of the secretary of 
the Massachusetts Board of EducaU.ia) on the influence of these 



200 THE SCHOOL AND 

Every individual who appreciates at all the magnitude of 
the subject, must endeavour to fdl his mind with impressive 

meetings, and on the relative advantages of town and county con- 
ventions, are worthy of consideration : " These annual county 
meetings, which have now been held for five successive years in 
the counties of the state, have been eminently useful in diffusing 
information as to a better system of school district organization, 
better modes of instruction, and so forth. Especially, by bringing 
the sympathy of numbers to bear upon individuals, they have diffu- 
sed a spirit, and created an energy, more worthy of a cause which 
carries so much of the happiness of the community in its bosom. 
But it seems to me that the mode of operation heretofore pursued 
may now be modified with evident advantage. 

" To explain my views in regard to the most eligible course for 
the future, it will be necessary to recur for a moment to the prac- 
tice of the past. At the county conventions, a considerable portion 
of the day has usually been spent in discussing such topics as were 
deemed most intimately connected with the welfare of the schools 
in the section of country where the meetings were respectively held. 
AH persons present have been invited to participate in the proceed- 
ings. Questions have been freely put, and replies given. On these 
occasions I have always been requested to deliver an address in the 
course of the day, and have never felt at liberty to decline the invi- 
tation. I have also invariably held myself ready to answer such 
inquiries, and to meet svich suggestions as might be proposed ; but 
the friends of education assembled from the vicinity have always 
been consulted as to the topics for discussion, and, through the me- 
dium of a committee, have generally proposed them. Out of a gen- 
eral similarity of circumstances and of objects has naturally arisen 
a considerable degree of uniformity in the modes of proceeding ; 
and it is with the sincerest pleasure that I bear witness, that at all 
tunes, and in all places, the greatest harmony has prevailed. I do 
not mean that opinions have always coincided, but that different 
views have been presented in an amicable spirit ; and it has often- 
times happened that some modified course, some third measure, 
lias been elicited, better than either of those originally suggested. 

" Such has been the common mode of proceeding, the advantages 
of which have been clearly discovered in regard to those towns and 
districts which have been most regularly and fully represented at 
the meetings. In regard to a considerable number of towns, an 



THE SCHOOLMASTER, 201 

facts and arguments, and, as he goes abroad, scatter the 
good seed by the wayside, in the field, at the market-place, 

entire reform in their schools has been distinctly traceable to the 
fact that a few of their most worthy and influential inhabitants had 
been present at one of these conventions ; and, having listened to the 
counsels, or been inspired by the zeal of their fellow-citizens from 
other towns, have returned home to diffuse the information they 
have obtained, and to animate others with the spirit they have 
caught. 

" But the benefits of this course are too limited. It has served 
the purpose of exciting an interest, but it will not consummate the 
work of reform. Except in some half dozen or dozen cases, the 
conventions have lasted but a single day. Persons coming from 
any considerable distance desire to leave at an early hour, that they 
may return home ; and, as some time is necessarily spent in organ- 
ization and in preliniinary arrangements, the day is shortened at 
both ends. Unlike most other conventions, too, these are attended 
by ladies, whose paramount influence in the cause of education 
renders their presence exceedingly desirable ; and this is another 
reason for dissolving the meetings at an early hour. In addition to 
this, most of the counties are too large, in point of territory, to allow 
persons whose residence is remote from the respective places of 
meeting, to go and return on the same day, although, in some of 
the counties whose territory is greatest, there are individuals who 
have never failed of being present at them. It may be said, indeed, 
that other conventions, abolition or pohtical, are attended by per- 
sons who traverse half the length of the state for the purpose ; that 
they are continued for two or more days ; or, if held but for one, 
that the meeting is prolonged by borrowing many hours from the 
night. But, as an answer to this, it must be remembered that the 
cause of education — the cause of ransoming our own cliildren from 
the bondage of ignorance and vice— the cause which is not merely 
to affect, but to control their destiny, and that of the Republic, 
through all future time — has not yet aroused that degree of enthu- 
siasm which will gather crowds of people from distant places, and 
hold them together for days in succession, while they descant upon 
their own virtues and denounce the wickedness of their opponents 

" But the best minds in our community have been reached. 
Wliat IS now wanting is to reach another class of persons, numeri- 
cally greater, but having less appreciation of the value of education, 



202 THE SCHOOL AND 

and in the shop. Each one must remember that he can do 
something for this good work, and that what he can do, he 
is bound to do. Especially, in his own district or town, ought 
each one to give his whole influence towards the diffusion 
of sound views, and the introduction of a wiser and more 
liberal policy. 

II. Frequent change of teachers. — This is a subject of al- 
most universal complaint. The evil arose, at first, from the 
fact that schools were kept open but a part of each year ; 
and more recently, it has resulted from the prevailing prac- 
tice of hiring male teachers in winter, and females in sum- 
mer. Another cause, which has contributed to this perni- 
cious practice, is the change which is annually made in the 
government of the school. By law, new trustees are required 
to be elected once in twelve months, and these, being often 
chosen on the principle of rotation, are either wholly inex- 
perienced in the duties of the office, or ignorant, at least, of 
the policy of their predecessors, and of the reasons which 
induced them to adopt particular measures. In many cases, 
too, they are anxious to propitiate persons who have been 
disaffected, or to secure some sinister object, and hence the 
system is changed and teachers are dismissed. 

It is impossible to overrate the evils of such a course. 
The business of education is essentially progressive. It 

and less knowledge of the means by which it should be conducted. 
This class of persons do not attend the county conventions, either 
from a lack of interest in the general subject, or because the dis-, 
tance is too great, or because the conventions are held in the day- 
time, which they appropriate to labour. But many of this class 
would attend such a meeting in their own town, especially if held 
in the evening. What seems to he desirable now is frequent meetings 
in smaller sections of territory, that sounder vieivs and a livelier interest 
may he carried to the doors of those icho will not go abroad to obtain 
them. Such has been the course pursued from the beginning in 
Connecticut, whose laws on the subject have been, in many re- 
epects, very similar to our own." 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 203 

consists of a series of processes, the later always depending 
upon the earlier, and requiring, therefore, to be conducted, 
within certain limits, on the same principles, and by the 
same methods. But, in the present state of our schools, 
hardly any two teachers have the same methods. No op- 
portunity is afforded the one who succeeds to become ac- 
quainted with the state of the school, and with the methods of 
his predecessor, by actual observation. The one has gone, 
before the other arrives. He enters the school, a stranger to 
the children and to their parents, unacquainted with the rel- 
ative propensity and aptitude of the different scholars, ig- 
norant of the course which was pursued by former teachers, 
and with the prospect, probably, of retiring himself, at the 
end of three or four months. Is it not evident, that the prog- 
ress of the school must be arrested, until he can learn his 
position? As each teacher is apt to be tenacious of his 
ovfn system, is it not also evident that, after having arrested 
the ^vork which his predecessor began, he will, in many 
cases, proceed to undo it? Thus the children will often 
spend the whole period of his stay, in retracing their studies 
in a new book, or according to a new method. There will 
be movement, but no progress. 

The effect, on the teacher, must be equally bad. This 
practice makes him, in truth, little better than a vagrant. 
He can have no fixed residence, since the period for Avhich 
he engages is never over a year, and rarely over four 
mcnths ; and even, in these cases, it is liable to be curtailed 
by the caprice of his employers or the arbitrary interference 
of the trustees. He of course cannot marry. He has little 
ambition to form a character ; his employment occupies 
without improving him ; and, in most cases, he either has- 
tens to leave it, or becomes a contented but useless drone. 
Can we wonder that there are few good teachers under 
such a system ? , 

Is there any remedy for such an evil ? We believe there 



204 TEIE SCHOOL AND 

is. The apology for this constant change is, that the dis- 
trict cannot support a good male teacher, throughout the 
year. They must either close the school during summer, 
or have it taught by a female. Then, we say, let it be 
taught by a female, throughout the year. The sum which is 
now divided between the two teachers would pay a female 
handsomely for the whole year, and would thus supersede 
the necessity of closing the school at all, except for a vaca- 
tion of three or four weeks.* 

The advantages of this course would be various. 1st. It 
would give to the scholars the advantage of having the 
same instructress throughout one entire year at least ; and, 
if she proved worthy of the charge, she could hardly fail, 
during that time, so to enlist the affections of the children, 
the good-will of the parents, and the confidence of the trus- 
tees, as to be secure of a renewed engagement. Thus we 
should gradually return to the good old practice of perma- 
nent schools under permanent instructers. 

2d. It would be a cheap system. The best-qualified fe- 
male teachers, in common schools, would be glad to accept 
what is now paid to men of the poorest capacity. 

3d. It would secure teachers of higher intellectual capa- 
city and qualification. Women have a native tact in the man- 
agement of very young minds, which is rarely possessed by 

* Suppose a male teacher is employed four months at .$25 per 
month, including board, a female for four months at $12 50 per 
month. The whole expense for teachers' wages would be $150, and 
the school would be kept open but eight months out of twelve. 
Apply the same sum to a female teacher at $12 50 per month, and it 
would keep the school open during every day of the year. Pay her 
$15 per month, which is the least that a good female teacher ought 
to receive, and this sum would sustain the school for ten months, 
which is probably sufficient, since children ought to have occasional 
vacations of considerable length. Employ her but eight months 
and pay hef but $12 50 per month, and there would be a saving to 
the district of $.50 annually. 



THE SCHOOLiMASTER. 205 

men. The prospect, also, of permanent employment, at a 
fair rate of compensation, would induce many young wom- 
en of narrow means to prepare themselves for teaching ; 
and it will hardly be disputed, that, with limited opportuni- 
ties as to time and money, they would make greater profi- 
ciency in knowledge and in the art of teaching, than young 
men having only the same opportunities. It should be con- 
sidered, also, that the prospect of profitable employment 
would awaken competition, and in tliis way higher quali- 
fications would be secured. 

4th. It would furnish a desirable resource, and a useful as 
well as respectable mode of life, to many females, who are 
cast upon the world without property. 

5th. It would conduce to the improvement of manners and 
morals in schools, since females attach more importance to 
these than men ; and they have a peculiar power of awaken- 
ing the sympathies of children, and inspiring them with a 
desire to excel. 

6th. It would diminish the number. of select schools, since 
many of these are taught by women, whose services would 
then be required in common schools ; and these schools 
would also be less necessary, than at present, for very 
young children. 

But can you propose, seriously (some one will say), that 
timid and delicate women should retain charge, through the 
winter, of country schools, in which large and rude boys 
are congregated ? This forms the only objection, which 
can be plausibly urged against this plan, and it is one which 
deserves full and respectful consideration. I would re- 
mark in regard to it, 

1 . That it is by no means so formidable, as it might ap- 
pear at first thought. It is now admitted, that in the gov- 
ernment of schools, moral influence should be substituted, 
as far as possible, in place of mere coercion, and that cor- 
poral punishment should be reserved for yoimg children. 



206 THE SCHOOL AND 

and be applied but very rarely even to them. It is admit- 
ted, too, that the teacher ought to aim, first of all, to culti- 
vate the higher sentiments of our nature, to awaken self- 
respect, and to induce the child to become a lavi^ to himself. 
If this be true (and few will be disposed to question it), 
then it must follow that women are, in most respects, pre- 
eminently qualified to administer such a discipline. Their 
very delicacy and helplessness give them a peculiar claim 
to deference and respectful consideration ; and this claim 
large boys, who are aspiring to be men, can hardly fail to 
recognise. I need not add, that they are honourably dis- 
tinguished from the other sex by warm affections, by great- 
er faith in human nature, and in its capacity for good, and 
by disinterested and untiring zeal in behalf of objects that 
they love. Says the present chief magistrate of this state, 
" He, it seems to me, is a dull observer, who has not learn- 
ed that it was the intention of the Creator to commit to 
them a higher and greater portion of responsibility in the 
education of youth of both sexes. They are the natural 
guardians of the young. Their abstraction from the en- 
grossing cares of life affords them leisure both to acquire 
and communicate knowledge. From them the young more 
willingly receive it, because the severity of discipline is 
relieved with greater tenderness and affection, while their 
more quick apprehension, enduring patience, expansive be- 
nevolence, higher purity, more delicate taste, and elevated 
moral feeling, qualify them for excellence in all departments 
of learning, except, perhaps, the exact sciences. If this be 
true, how many a repulsive, bigoted, and indolent profess- 
or will, in the general improvement of education, be com- 
pelled to resign his claim to modest, assiduous, and affec- 
tionate woman. And how many conceited pretenders, who 
may wield the rod in our common schools, without the 
knowledge of human nature requisite for its discreet exer- 
cise, too indolent to improve, and too proud to discharge 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 207 

their responsible duties, will be driven to seek subsistence 
elsewhere."* 

This, however, is no longer a subject, for speculation and 
conjecture. The experiment has been tried. It was com- 
menced, some four years since, in the State of Massachu- 
setts, and has been continued, with constantly increasing 
success, down to this time. The annual reports of the 
Board of Education during that period have exhibited a rapid 
increase in the proportion of female teachers ; and the last 
report shows, that the increase of female teachers, dm-ing 
the preceding year, had been more than four times greater 
than that of males. Of the whole number of teachers 
(6600) employed in the common schools of Massachusetts 
during the year 1841, nearly two thirds were females ; and 
with what success many of them conducted winter schools 
will appear from the following extracts from the returns : 
" In two of our schools," say the school committee of the 
town of Boylston, " the West and the Centre, we have tried 
the experiment, t/iis year, of employing females to teach our 
winter schools ; and we feel confident in saying that it is no 
disparagement to those who have had the charge of these 
schools in winters past, to say that we have never known 
them to be more ably managed, more successfully govern- 
ed, or more faithfully instructed. The scholars have made 
all the proficiency that we could have expected under 
teachers of the other sex. The large scholars have uni- 
formly in the West school, and generally in the Centre, been 
more cheerfully submissive to the rules and regulations of 
the school than in former winters, when these schools have 
been under the instruction of male teachers." 

" We are not prepared to say that it would be advisable 
to dispense with male teachers altogether in our winter 
schools, but we are satisfied that female teachers might be 

* Discourse on Education, delivered at Westfield, July 26, 1837, 
by W'm. H. Seward. 



208 THE SCHOOL AND 

employed to a far greater extent than they have hitherto 
been, without any detriment to our schools. And, by adopt- 
ing this course, our schools might be lengthened one fourth 
or one half." 

Say the school committee of the town of Petersham, 
" Four of our winter schools were taught by females, and 
without any disparagement to the young gentlemen teach- 
ers, some of whom did very well, yet justice compels us to 
say, that the schools taught by females during the past win- 
ter have made as good progress as those taught by males. 
And it is not too much to say, that the school Avhich made 
decidedly the best appearance at the close, was taught by 
a young lady." — " It is frequently the case, that large and 
turbulent boys, whom it was quite difficult for men to gov- 
ern by severe means, have been won into good behaviour 
by the gentle treatment of a female teacher." 

Say the school committee of the town of Brimfield : 
" The winter schools, eleven in number, were taught by 
five males and six females. To say nothing in disparage- 
ment of those under the care of males, we hazard the opin- 
ion that those taught by females will suffer nothing in com- 
parison. Indeed, to some of these we are constrained, in 
justice, to give the preference before any and all others." 

" Some have objected to female teachers for the winter 
schools on the ground that the large scholars would not be 
willing to submit to female authority and dictation, and 
hence that, on the score of government, we might expect 
trouble. But, so far as the experience of the last winter 
goes, this objection is removed. It has been just as we al- 
ways supposed, from the veiy nature of the case, would be 
the fact, viz., that the older scholars, and especially the 
young men, would have too much self-respect and regard 
for the feelings of a kind, amiable female teacher, to allow 
them unnecessarily to wound her tender sensibilities. Now 
it is a fact, that in four schools taught by fcinahs, we have 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. UOS 

found elder scholars than in any taught by males. In three 
of these schools we found young men from eighteen to 
twenty-one or two, and in every instance in the most 
perfect state of subordination^ treating their teacher with 
great deference and respect, and yielding with perfect good 
feeling to all her wishes. We have heard not a breath of 
complaint, as it regards the conduct of the older scholars in 
particular, except in one instance, and that was the case of 
a very ignorant, and, one should say, a very foolish boy, 
who, though nineteen or twenty, could scarcely read, and 
who, it was said, went to school, not to learn, but to make 
disturbance. We cannot forbear, in general, to bestow the 
highest encomiums on the conduct of the older scholars, 
especially of the young men, who have attended the several 
schools taught by females." The committee proceed to 
. state, that they found the female teachers quite as well vers* 
ed as the males in the higher branches of mathematics ; 
that they used the black-board more, and with greater sue* 
cess, in the exercises of the school ; that they were more 
ingenious in " introducing little devices calculated to ani* 
mate and encourage children," and to relieve the monotony 
of school exercises ; and that they were more attentive to 
cleanliness and good manners, and more successful in ma» 
king good readers. 

2. Wherever the winter school is too large, or it is 
thought inexpedient, on some other account, to intrust it al- 
together to females, a male teacher might be employed, ibr 
the express purpose of taking charge of the larger and more 
advanced scholars, who attend only at that season ; the fe- 
male being retained as an associate or assistant teacher. 
In this way, unnecessary' changes would be avoided, and 
the benign influence of the gentler sex in schools would be- 
come permanent, and be secured to that class of children, 
especially, who most need it. 

3. There is another expedient, now frequently adopted 

S 2 



210 THE SCHOOL AND 

in Massachusetts and Connecticut, which seems to meet 
completely, though in a somewhat different way, the objec- 
tion to female teachers, founded on their supposed inability 
to manage large boys. It consists, in establishing, at some 
point which will be convenient and central for three or four 
districts, a Union or High School, to be open, in most ca- 
ses, only in winter, and to be frequented only by scholars 
so advanced in age that they can go a considerable distance 
from home, and so far versed in the rudiments of learning 
that they need instruction in higher branches. These 
schools might be taught by males; the common district 
schools being left to females, and being frequented only by 
young children. The advantages of this plan will be more 
obvious, when we come to the discussion of the next topic. 
III. Unnecessary multiplication of school districts. — This 
has become a sore evil. In 1815, when the system was ' 
organized, the whole state contained but two thousand seven 
hundred andffty-six districts. These have since been divi- 
ded and subdivided, till they number, now, ten thousand seven 
hundred and sixty-nine. As population became more dense, 
there was some reason for reducing the larger districts, in 
which the schoolhouse was too remote to be frequented, by 
the smaller children of those inhabitants who lived on the out- 
skirts. It maybe doubted, however, whether even this con- 
sideration is entitled to all the weight which is usually con- 
ceded to it ; since, in the country, where children have am- 
ple space to play in, and various resources and occupations 
of a domestic character, much is often lost to health, and 
nothing gained to character or intellect, by sending them 
prematurely to school. Admitting, however, the utmost that 
can be claimed for this argument, it will only follow, that 
school districts should be multiplied as population increases, 
in the more sparsely settled parts of the state. Where the 
territorial extent of a district is not unreasonably large, a 
mere increase of population would form no sufficient ground 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 211 

for dhiding it. In point of fact, however, the process of 
subdivision has gone on over the w^hole state ; and this, too, 
not only as fast as the increase of population, but much fast- 
er ; the number of school districts having increased, since 
1815, in a nearly fivefold ratio., while the population has not 
trebled. The consequence is, that the number of inhabitants, 
in each district, is, on an average, materially less, than it was 
when the system was established. 

The average population in each district is about 230 ; the 
average number of children between 5 and 16, 55 ; and the 
average extent of territor}- , four square miles, or two miles 
square. If the schoolhouse occupies a central position, the 
greatest distance which any child has to travel will be less 
than one mile and a half, and the greatest number of schol- 
ars who can be expected to attend, on an average (after 
deducting those who go to select and other schools), will 
not be over thirty-live. The present average rate of attend- 
ance appears, from the reports of the visiters in 1840 and 
1841, to be less than thirty-five. It must be evident, that 
such a school is not sufficiently large to fully occupy, or re- 
munerate the services of a first-rate teacher ; and hence, in- 
stead of multiplying districts still farther, as is often the 
disposition at present, it is very important to diminish 
their number. It is justly observed by the secretary of the 
Massachusetts Board of Education, in his last report, that 
" there is but one class of persons in the whole communi- 
ty, and that class not only small in number, but the least 
entitled to favour, who are beneficially interested in the es- 
tablishment of small and feeble districts. This class con- 
sists of the very poorest teachers in the state, or of those 
who emigrate here from other states or countries in quest 
of employment as teachers, who are willing to teach for 
the lowest compensation, and for whose services even the 
lowest is too liigh. These teachers may safely look upon 
the nmall and feeble districts as estates in expectancy. 



212 THE SCHOOL AND 

Such districts, having destroyed their resources by dividing 
them, must remain stationary) from year to year, amid sur- 
rounding improvement ; and hence, being unable to com- 
mand more valuable services, they w^ill be compelled to 
grant a small annual pension to ignorance and imbecility, 
and this class of teachers stands ready to be their pen- 
sioners." 

This subdivision of districts not only deteriorates the 
standard of instruction, it adds also to its expensiveness. If 
two districts are established, where one would be sufficient, 
two buildings must be erected and kept in repair, and two fires 
supplied with fuel, and two teachers maintained, where, one 
of each would answer the same ends. Suppose that a space 
of four square miles, the average size of our school districts 
at present, contains a population of 450 souls, of whom 
from 90 to 100 are children, between the ages of five and 
sixteen. The average number attending school would, in 
summer, be about fifty, and about sixty-five in winter. If, 
now, instead of having two feeble districts, two poor school- 
houses, and two indifferent teachers, there were to be but 
one district, with a good and commodious edifice, and an 
efficient teacher, no child would be required to travel far- 
ther than would conduce to good health, and there can be 
no doubt that the instruction and influence would be much 
more salutary. Hpw would it be with the relative expense 
of the two systems ? 

I. With two districts, under the present system, there 
would be a female teacher for four months in summer, and 
a male for the same period in winter. 
The annual expense would be, say. 

Interest on cost of t^vu achoolhouses ($400 each) at 7 per cent. . $56 00 

Wear and tear; and repairs of two houses 20 00 

Fuel, &c., for two houses 20 00 

Wagesof two female teachers, four months, at $12 . . . 96 00 

" male teachers, four months, at $24 . . . . 192 00 

Incidentals ^° °° 

«344 00 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 213 

II. With one district, there might be a female teacher 
throughout the year or for ten months, with the addition of 
a good male instructer, for three or four months in winter. 
The annual expense on a liberal plan would be, say, 

Interest on cost of one good schoolhouse ($600) .... $4200 

Wear and tear, &c 15 00 

Fuel,&c 15 00 

Wages of female teacher, ten months, at$ 15 .... 15000 

" male teacher, four months, at $30 120 00 

Incidentals 10 00 

$352 00 

If the male teacher were dispensed with, the whole annual 
expense Avould be but $232. If a male were employed for 
ten months without a female, at $30, even then the expense 
would be but $382, so that the present system is not only 
the least efficient and useful, but also the least economical 

The process of uniting two or more adjacent districts, or 
of forming two out of three, ought to be commenced at once, 
and it might be carried on, through our smaller villages, and 
the more thickly-settled rural districts, with the greatest 
advantage. A law, authorizing it, has recently passed the 
legislatures of this and adjoining states, and it is believed 
that, in New- York, the whole number of districts might be 
reduced one third without material inconvenience to any, 
and with the greatest benefit to all. The number of teach- 
ers in demand would thus be reduced, while the rate of 
compensation might be increased without adding to the 
burdens of the people ; and thus the facilities for obtaining 
good instructers would be multiplied, in a twofold ratio. 
The schools, being larger, would admit of a more thorough 
classification of the scholars ; being kept throughout the 
year, the organization would be more permanent and effect- 
ive, and the manifold evils, gi'owing out of the constant 
change of teachers, might be obviated. The present is an 
auspicious time Ibr this work. In many towns or counties. 



214 THE SCHOOL AND 

the schoolhouses are old and inconvenient, and must soon 
be renewed. Would it not be wise, in such cases, to induce 
the trustees and inhabitants of neighbouring districts to as- 
semble, and to consider the expediency of so combining their 
energies, as at once to increase the value, and diminish the 
expense, of an education for their children. 

Where it is not found practicable or expedient, to reor- 
ganize the school-districts on this principle, another plan 
may be adopted, which has found great favour in Massa- 
chusetts and Connecticut, and which is thus described by 
the enlightened gentleman who presides over the interests 
of primary instruction in the former of those states : " The 
population of many towns is so situated as conveniently to 
allow a gradation of the schools. For children under the 
age of eight or ten years, about a mile seems a proper limit, 
beyond which they should not be required to travel to 
school. On this supposition, one house, as centrally situ- 
ated as circumstances will admit, would accommodate the 
population upon a territory of four square miles, or, which 
is the same thing, two miles square. But a child above 
that age can go two miles to school, or even rather more, 
without serious inconvenience. There are many persons 
whose experience attests that they never enjoyed better 
health, or made greater progress, than Avhen they Avent two 
miles and a half or three miles daily to school. Supposing, 
however, the most remote scholars to live only at about the 
distance of two miles from the school, one house will then 
accommodate all the older children upon a territory of about 
sixteen square miles, or four miles square. Under such an 
arrangement, Avhile there were four schools in a territory of 
four miles square, i. e., sixteen square miles, for the young- 
er children, there would be one central school for the older 
Suppose there is $600 to be divided among the inhabitants 
of this territory of sixteen square miles, or $150 for each 
of the four districts. Suppose, farther, that the average 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 



215 



wages for male teachers is $25, and for female $12 50 per 
month. If, according to the present system, four male 
teachers are employed for the winter term, and four female 
for the summer, each of the summer and winter schools 
may be kept four months. The money would then be ex- 
hausted ; i. e., four months summer, at $12 50 = $50, and 
four months winter, at $25 = $100 ; both =$150. But, ac- 
cording to the plan suggested, the same sum would pay for 
six months' summer school instead of four in each of the 
four districts, and for a male teacher's school eight months 
at $35 a month, instead of four months at $25 a month, and 
would then leave $20 in the treasury. 




" By this plan, the great superiority of female over male 
training for children under eight, ten, or twelve years of age 
woidd be secured ; the larger scholars would be separated 
from the smaller, and thus the great diversity of studies and 
of classes in the same school, which now crumbles the 
teacher's time into dust, would be avoided ; the female 
schools would be lengthened one half; the length of the 
male schools would be doubled, and for the increased com- 
pensation, a teacher of fourfold qualifications could be em- 
ployed." — " If four districts cannot be united, three may. 
If the central point of the territory happen to be populous, a 
schoolhouse may be built consisting of two rooms, one for 
the large, the other for the small scholars ; both upon the 
same floor, or one above another." 

The principal objection to this plan, is, that it suspends 



216 THE SCHOOL AND 

the schools for children under ten years of age, during half 
of each year, and keeps open the union or high school but 
eight months. Thus both schools would, in effect, be bro- 
ken up each year, and that class of children who can be 
best spared to attend throughout the year would, many of 
them, be deprived of access to school for six months out of 
every twelve. Would it not be better to require the female 
schools to be kept open ten months each year, and to re- 
ceive all children under twelve years of age, and girls even 
later, the central or union school being kept four months ? 
Four female teachers at $12 50 would be $50 a month; 
this for ten months =$500, leaving $100 to be paid to the 
male teacher. 

That some arrangement, by which the evils of feeble 
districts can be avoided, is absolutely necessary, will be 
more obvious, if we consider the peculiar distribution of 
population, over the face of our countiy. Prussia, with 
whose school system we are most accustomed to compare 
our own, has, on an average, one hundred and thirty inhab- 
itants to every square mile, while in this state we have 
but about fifty-five. In another respect the difference is 
still greater. In Prussia, the inhabitants, even of rural dis- 
tricts, instead of living, as with us, in isolated dwellings, a 
quarter of a mile apart, are grouped together in hamlets or 
villages, almost any one of which is sufficiently large to 
furnish a school with sixty-five or seventy children. It 
must be evident that, in such a country, there is little occa- 
sion for that subdivision of districts, which here, though 
carried much too far, is still, in some degree, unavoidable. 
When, in addition to this facility which exists in Prussia 
for forming large schools, we consider that, there, every 
profession or calling is already crowded, and that multi- 
tudes of men have no higher ambition than to be school, 
masters for life in some village or primary school ; and 
when we consider, farther, that a sum, which, in Prussia or 



THE SCHOOLMASTER, 217 

France, would be adequate to remunerate a master, would 
not, in this country, pay the wages of a day-labourer, we 
shall perceive how visionary it must be, to hope that a class 
of men can be trained up here, willing to teach common 
schools for life, at the rates which feeble and thinly-peo- 
pled districts can pay. The necessity, therefore, for em- 
ploying females, seems, here, to be clear and irresistible. 
Even in Prussia, it is thought, by many judicious friends of 
popular education, that they might be employed, in many 
instances, with much benefit. Says a late -writer, 

" There is this peculiarity in Dutch and German schools, 
that women are rarely employed in them except to teach 
sewing and knitting, or as mistresses of infant schools. In 
large rooms, filled entirely with girls, we rarely found a 
schoolmistress or a female teacher, unless the cliildren be- 
longed to the lowest class in the school, and were merely 
learning the alphabet, or unless the hour for needlework 
had arrived. The Germans greatly underrate the physical 
strength and intellectual power of women, as adapted for 
the work of instruction. They affect a great contempt for 
female authorship, arising partly, perhaps, from the fact 
that they have but few writers of that sex, or but few to be 
compared with the best of those of England and France. 
We believe this prejudice against female talent to be unfor- 
tunate and mischievous. There is notliing that a girl can 
learn that a woman is incapable of teaching when properly 
trained ; and, in many cases — as every one knows who has 
frequented Sunday-schools — women make better instructers 
than those of the other sex. . Women have often more tal- 
ent for conversational teaching (the best of all forms of in- 
struction), more quickness of perception in seizing difficul- 
ties by which the mind of a child is eunbarrassed, and more 
mildness of manner than a master commonly possesses ; 
and Avhen these important qualities are combined with the 
proper degree of firmness (and that, too, may be acquired), 



218 THE SCHOOL AND 

they cannot be excelled. For teaching singing they are 
especially qualified, as the pitch of their voices enables 
them to sing in unison with children, instead of an octave 
below ; and for the physical strength said to be wanting, 
no instruction can be fit for a child that is given in a form 
that would exhaust any frame but one of iron or brass. 
But we need not dwell upon this part of our subjett, for 
English notions of delicacy would not permit schools to ex- 
ist, in which girls of 13 or 14 should be left, for hours to- 
gether, Avithout any person to consult belonging to their 
own sex. Normal schools, therefore, if ever established in 
this country, must be established for women as well as for 
men."* 

Having discussed, so much in detail, the best methods of 
organizing schools in the country, where population is 
sparse, it may be well, before dismissing this branch of our 
subject, to consider the various plans which have been pro- 
posed for the improvement of schools in cities. 



SECTION V. 

THE IMPROVEMENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 

" A school ought to be a noble asylum, to which children will 
come, and in which they will remain with pleasure ; to which their 
parents will send them with good-will." — Cousin. 

SCHOOLS IN CITIES AND VILLAGES. 

Children residing in large towns, and, indeed, in all 
compact places, are exposed to peculiar dangers and tempt- 
ations, and they need, therefore, more than others, the 
benignant influence of good schools. It is an influence, 
however, which very many of them are not likely to en- 
joy. They are, in many instances, afllicted with improvi- 
dent or immoral parents ; and being generally doomed, in 

* Westminster Review. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 219 

such cases, to poverty, they are crowded together in dark 
and neglected districts, where their condition escapes ob- 
servation, and where they rapidly corrupt one another. It 
is not strange, therefore, that a larger proportion of children 
grow up with idle and profligate habits, in towns, than in the 
country ; and it is plain, that to prevent this mournful result 
calls for special care and attention, on the part of the friends 
of education. To determine, then, on the best system of 
public instruction for a city ; to bring its advantages to ev- 
ery one's door, and especially to the doors of the poor ; and 
to provide that all shall avail themselves of those advanta- 
ges, is an object of the very highest interest and importance. 
It touches intimately the general welfare, which is always 
endangered by the presence of the ignorant and imprinci- 
pled ; especially in large cities, where such persons have 
peculiar incitements, and enjoy sig-nal opportunities for con- 
federation and outrage. 

I. District System. — The methods which have been 
proposed for school organization, in cities, are various. By 
one, which is considerably prevalent, the territory of a city is 
divided, as in the country, into small districts, and in each, a 
school is kept, sufficiently large for the accommodation of 
all the children in said district. Where the districts con- 
tain, each, but a small number of children, this system appears 
to be obnoxious to the most serious objections. It collects 
together in one apartment, and under the supervision of but 
one teacher, children of every age and grade of attainment ; 
and these so divide the labours and distract the attention of 
their instructor, that a large portion of his energies are wast- 
ed. In a school composed of none but small children, many 
exercises might be introduced, admirably adapted to interest 
and improve them, which, in a school composed in part of 
larger scholars, would be quite out of place. So with dis- 
cipline : if it has to be accommodated to the mixed and het- 
erogeneous character of a school composed of children of 



220 THE SCHOOL AND 

all ages, it must fail in adapting itself with skill and precis- 
ion to the wants and capacities of those of any particular 
age. Division of labour seems to be quite as important in 
education as in the production of wealth ; and we might with 
as much wisdom require that cotton should be picked, and 
carded, and spun, and woven, and bleached, and dressed, by 
one machine or by one person, as that children of different 
ages and attainments, as well as dispositions, should be suc- 
cessfully governed and instructed by one teacher. In the 
country, where schools can be maintained only by means 
of local districts, such an evil is, in a degree, unavoidable ; 
but in cities and villages it is gratuitous, and ought, there- 
fore, to be avoided. 

A modification of the district system has been recently 
introduced in BuflFalo, and a few other cities of this state, 
which seems to obviate some of the most material of these 
objections. The population is divided into larger districts, 
varying from one thousand to fifteen hundred, so that each 
district will contain nearly three hundred children. In each 
a schoolhouse is erected, containing two apartments, in one 
of which a female teacher is employed to superintend the 
instruction of the younger pupils, and in the other a male 
teacher, at a fixed and competent salary, to give instruction 
in the higher branches. In Buffalo, a city superintendent 
has been appointed, who reports that " the system has thus 
far succeeded beyond the most sanguine hope of its pro- 
jectors and friends. Its good effects are already apparent 
from the anxiety to obtain admission into the schools, the 
prompt and constant attendance of the children, and their 
correct and orderly deportment while under the authority 
of their teachers." The estimation in which the public 
hold it, may be inferred from the fact that, in 1837, the 
whole number of children taught in all the public schools 
was but 679, whereas, in 1839, when the system had be- 
come fully established, it had swelled to 2450 ; and in 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 221 

1840, to 4068. The report of the superintendent adds, 
that " in each of the districts, the school has been kept 
open during the whole year, at an expense of $8875 30, of 
which $1585 18, only, was contributed by the state, and 
the balance, $7291 12, raised by taxation and from rate- 
bills." To show the advantage of an efficient system of 
public schools over one in which they are neglected, and, 
on that account, soon overshadowed by private schools, it 
may be proper to add that, prior to the adoption of the pres- 
ent plan, it was found that a very large proportion of all 
the cliildren of Buffalo were at no school, public or private, 
and that the average annual expense of instructing those 
who did attend, was two thirds greater than at present.* 

* The following account of the system of public instruction in 
Lowell (Mass.) will be read with interest. 

" The public schools are divided into three grades, viz., twenty- 
four primary schools, eight grammar schools, and one high school, 
and all of them maintained by direct tax on the whole city. The 
primary schools are taught entirely by females, and receive children 
under seven years of age, and until they are qualified for admission 
to the granomar schools; the average number to each school is 
sixty. 

" The grammar schools receive those who can bring a certificate, 
or pass an examination in the common stops and abbreviations, and 
in easy reading and spelling. These schools are divided into two 
departments, one for boys and the other for girls, and are taught by 
a male principal and assistant, two female assistants, and a writing- 
master. The number of scholars is about 200 in each department. 
The studies are the common branches of an English education. 

" The high school prepares young men for college, and carries 
forward the education of the young of both sexes in the studies pre- 
viously pursued in the grammar schools, as well as in algebra, ge- 
ometry, rhetoric, astronomy, practical mathematics, natural history, 
moral philosophy, book-keeping, composition, and the evidences of 
Christianity. Pupils are admitted, on examination, twice a year, in 
the studies of the grammar schools. There are two departments, 
one under a male and the other a female principal, assisted by two 
assistants, and a teacher of plain and ornamental penmanship. 
T2 



222 THE SCHOOL AND 

II. The Monitorial plan, or, as it is sometimes called, 
the system of Mutual Instruction. — This method seems to 
have been borrowed from the Hindu schools at Madras, and 
was introduced into England by Bell and Lancaster. Its 

" The care and superintendence of the public schools are intrusted 
to a committee, not exceeding twelve, elected annually. The com- 
mittee must choose a chairman, secretary, and a sub-committee for 
each school, with appropriate duties. The general conamittee elect 
teachers, determine their salaries, remove those who are incompe- 
tent, and make all necessary regulations respecting the studies, 
books, and discipline of the schools. They must meet at least once 
a month. The sub-committee meet, visit, and examine into the 
progress of each of his particular school or schools once a month, 
and report at the regular meeting of the board. 

" No better education can be obtained in the English, or in the 
preparatory classical studies, in any school, and the richest and best- 
educated parents are glad to avail themselves of these public insti- 
tutions. Owing to the number of Catholic families. Catholic teach- 
ers are provided in five primary and one grammar school, in parts 
of the city where that population predominates. This arrangement 
has secured the attendance of that class of children, and the hearty 
co-operation of their clergy." 

The following statistics are taken from the annual Report of the 

School Committee for the year endmg April 4th, 1842 : 

Population in 1840 20,981 

Number of persons over four and under sixteen 4,000 

Average number belonging to the schools . 3,449 

Amount paid for teachers' wages : 

High school $3088 -| 

Eight giammar schools . . . 9457 I „„,„„,„ 

^. . / !lt)iy,olD 

Six wntuig-masters . . . 1677 j 

Twenty-four primary schools . 5094 J 

Fuel 1,686 

Rent, repairs, &c 2,553 

Aggregate amount of current expenses for 1841 S23,557 

Estimated expense for 1842 .... 25,000 

The schoolhouses are all of them substantial, convenient, and 

even elegant buildings. More than $60,000 were expended in 

1839-40 in this way. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 223 

essential feature consists in employing scholars as assistant 
teachers, or monitors ; the office of the master being con- 
fined, for the most part, to a superintendence of the school, 
and to the instruction of the monitors. It was originally- 
intended only for large schools, containing children of all 
ages, and, in such cases, is, of course, the cheapest of all 
systems, since but one master or mistress suffices for the 
instruction of several hundred children. Its immediate re- 
sults, too, in imparting a certain mechanical skill in reading 
and writing, as well as its effect in maintaining order and 
precision in the operations of a great school, were calcula- 
ted to strike and dazzle spectators, and hence the system, 
when first introduced, was unboundedly popular. Experi- 
ence, however, soon revealed capital defects, which might 
have been anticipated from the very nature of the meth- 
od, as compared with the true principles of education ; and 
these have led to its entire abandonment, in some coun- 
tries, and to its essential modification, in all. In Prussia 
and Holland, it is wholly repudiated, on the ground that it 
does not tend to develop and discipline the faculties of the 
mind, but only to give a limited amount of information. In 
countries like England, where there are hordes of poor 
children growing up in ignorance, and for whose education 
the government does nothing, this system may be profitably 
retained, since it enables the benevolent, with limited funds, 
to accomplish something in behalf of a most important ob- 
ject, which Avould otherwise be neglected. There can, 
moreover, be no doubt that some of its expedients might be 
adopted with advantage in all schools ; and that even young 
children may sometimes be profitably employed, in hearing 
each other repeat lessons, Avhile older ones may assist, in the 
vastly higher and more difficult work, of teaching. But it is 
believed that the Lancastcrian method can be well adminis- 
tered, in a large school, only by masters eminently well qual- 
ified, and that even then, they will find the task too arduous. 



224. THE SCHOOL AND 

In most cases, it degenerates into a lifeless mechanism, 
which deadens the faculties of a child, and which is apt, 
also, to be unfriendly to his morals. I cannot but regard it 
as a subject for congratulation, that the system is going into 
disuse in our own country ; and the extent to which it has 
been retained in the new public schools of Buffalo and of 
other cities of this state, seems to me to constitute one of 
the most serious "defects, with which those schools are 
chargeable. 

III. Another plan of school organization, now popular in 
Germany, is termed by them the Facher system. It con- 
sists in em'ploying separate masters for separate studies. It 
assumes that a teacher who has nothing to do but teach wri- 
ting, will teach it better than any one else ; so with reading, 
geography, history, mathematics, music, and every other 
branch of instruction. The head master is looked to for 
nothing but the moral and general superintendence. This 
system applies the principle of dividing labour, to the great- 
est possible extent, in education, and has, therefore, its pe- 
culiar advantages. It can be employed, however,'only in 
large schools and in very large towns. Even there it 
is liable to the objections, that the instruction, by being too 
much subdivided, will be given in a narrow and exclusive 
spirit ; that the sub-masters will feel too little responsibility 
for the moral culture of their pupils ; and that the number of 
children congregated in the same school will multiply dan- 
gerously the temptations to which they are exposed. As 
compared with the plan of dividing a city into small districts, 
with a small school in each, to be composed of children of all 
ages between five and sixteen, and to be taught by one in- 
structer only, this system has great and unquestionable mer- 
its. It is believed, however, that its benefits can be retain- 
ed, and its inconveniences excluded, under a system better 
adapted to the condition and wants of our own country, 
and which may be called, therefore, 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 225 

IV. The American System. — Bytliis system, small pri- 
mary scliools, for both sexes, are established in every part 
of the city, to receive none but small children (say) under 
eight or ten years of age, to be kept open throughout the 
year, and to be taught by well-qualified females. In these 
schools, children of both sexes are taught to read and write, 
and to understand the simplest elements of arithmetic, while 
girls are instructed in sewing, knitting, &c. ; and all receive 
assiduous moral culture. If found necessary, in order to 
save the expense of separate lots and biuldings, such schools 
might each be held in a single apartment of edifices devo- 
ted to other purposes, ample provision, however, being made 
for play-ground, ventilation, &c. 

Having acquired, in these schools, a knowledge of the 
simpler rudiments, and having also reached the prescribed 
age, children should then be advanced to schools of a high- 
er character, which might, for convenience, be termed High 
Schools. In these, a much larger number of scholars might 
be collected, and it would probably be found expedient, also, 
to have separate establishments for boys and girls. These 
schools should be sufficiently large, to authorize the em- 
ployment of the best masters in the various branches, on 
the principles referred to in the last article, and also to fa- 
vour the use of simultaneous instruction, and such other im- 
provements as have been well tested by experiment. 

The advantages of this system may be briefly summed up 
under the following heads : 

1. It wiU classify scholars according to age and attain- 
ment, and thus enable us to procure teachers exactly adapt- 
ed to their respective capacities and wants. 

2. It will prevent the necessity of sending very small 
children far from home, and of exposing them to the con- 
taminations inseparable from large assemblages. 

3. It will seciure to young children, when most they need 
it, the genial influence of female care and culture. 



226 THE SCHOOL AND 

4. It will, by providing good public schools in every 
nciglibourhood for small children, supersede private schools, 
and thus bring together the children of all ranks and classes 
of our people. Destined, as all are, to meet hereafter on 
the broad field of competition, and, at the same time, to la- 
bour together for the common weal, it is unwise to separate 
them early in life, and to make schools which ought to be 
so many bonds of union, the occasions for jealousy and mis- 
understanding. 

5. It will contribute to enlarge the circle of juvenile stud- 
ies, by relieving the high schools from attention to the 
mere rudiments, and by securing that children are taught 
thoroughly at every step of their progress.* 

* This is substantially the plan adopted in the city of Boston. In 
Philadelphia, one somewhat difTerent, but well calculated to secure 
the same ends, is in operation. " The existing system of public 
schools," says the last report, " founded on the will of the people, 
owes its present organization to an act of Assembly, passed on the 
3d of March, 1818. By this act, the city and county of Philadelphia 
form the first school district of Pennsylvania, and the law which 
regulates its schools is separate and distinct from the general school 
law. Practical wisdom is thus manifested in not applying the same 
rules to this densely-populated portion of the state as to those more 
extended and sparsely-peopled districts in the country parts. The 
first district is subdivided into sections, numbered from one to 
eleven. The organization and direction of the schools, the election 
of teachers, and, in general, the local concerns of public education in 
the several sections, are confided to directors, whose number is reg- 
ulated by the amount of duties to be performed. The directors of 
each section constitute a board, with a distinct organization. They 
are elected in the city and incorporated districts by the councils or 
commissioners of the districts, and in the townships and boroughs 
by the people at the spring elections. By a recent law, the term of 
service of one third of each board is to expire annually. 

"The general control and regulation of the school district is 
vested in a higher board, composed of representatives from the 
board of directors of the several sections, and called the ' Controll- 
ers of the Public Schools.' 



THE SCHOOLMASTER, 227 

I would add here, that, owing to the cupidity or the ne- 
cessities of parents, and also to other causes, many children 

" The powers of this board are large, and their duties laborious. 
The board determines the annount of money to be raised annually by 
taxation for the schools, and which, by law, the county commission- 
ers are required to place in the county treasurer's hands, subject to 
its orders ; the tax-fund being made up, in addition to the state ap- 
propriation, of one dollar for each taxable inhabitant in the district. 
This board purchases sites for schoolhouses, erects the buildings, 
furnishes them, determines the number of teachers to be emplo3'ed, 
and the salaries to be paid, and prescribes and furnishes the books 
to be used, and other supplies. It makes the appropriations re- 
quired by the different sections, reviews their expenses, and draws 
the orders upon the county treasurer for their payment. The Mod- 
el School and Central High School are under its immediate direc- 
tion. Occasional visits of inspection are made to the schools of all 
the sections by its members." 

" The act of the Legislature of the 13th of June, 1836, directing the 
education of all children over four years of age, annulling the obli- 
gation to use the Lancasterian system in the schools, and authori- 
zing the estabhshment of a central high school, gave a new impulse 
to the school system. In execution of its provisions, the board has 
provided schoolrooms or erected schoolhouses wherever the wants 
of the community required them, and as rapidly as the resources of 
the county appeared to warrant. No effort has been spared in ex- 
tending the number of primary schools, and in providing them with 
convenient and comfortable rooms, in adding to the number of gram- 
mar schools, erecting suitable and commodious buildings for them, 
and procuring instructers of acknowledged ability and qualifications, 
in introducing useful improvements into the methods of teaching, 
and in adding to the facilities of instruction. Sound education has 
thus been diffused through the district, while by close attention to 
the expenses of the system, they have been kept within limits pro- 
portioned to the increased wants of the public. Under the present 
organization of the system, a boy may receive an entire and thorough 
education in the public schooks. Beginning in the primary schools, 
where the rudiments are taught, he is advanced in turn, when duly 
prepared, to the secondary and granunar schools, where, receiving 
the advantages of a good English education, he is prepared for the 
high school, and may thus enter, with a thorough training, any busi« 



228 THE SCHOOL AND 

are removed from school, and placed at trades before they 
are properly instructed. Hence no system of public in- 
struction for cities should be regarded as complete, which 
does not provide cveniiig schools for boys under sixteen 
years of age, and young men's associations, or lyceums, 
with their lectures and libraries, for those who have passed 
that age. " We shall never," says an able writer already 
referred to, " live in the midst of an educated community, 
until the machinery is provided for carrying on, at suitable 
opportunities, the instruction commenced in childhood, to 
the years of manhood, and even throughout life. Beyond 
the age of ten, or, at most, of twelve, the children of the 
poor, without a compulsory law, or without presents of 
clothes and money, will not be retained in day schools." 
On the other hand, " a boy who, from the age of fourteen to 
twenty-one, has no means of obtaining books, and none of 
hearing lectures upon scientific subjects, will never malce 
an intelligent, well-informed man." 

V. Diversity of Class-eooks. — No evil connected with 
the present condition of our schools calls more loudly for 
immediate correction than this. It is a subject of earnest 
and continual complaint on the part both of teachers and pa- 
rents, and it seems to prevail throughout the Avhole country, 
in Massachusetts it has been remedied in part, but is rep- 
resented, in the last report of the secretary of the Board of 
Education, as still prevalent, and as most mischievous in 
its effects. In Connecticut, according to the report of the 
secretary, made in 1839, the returns, although incomplete, 
showed that there were more than two hundred different 
sc/'ioolbooJ(s used in the several studies pursued in the com- 
mon schools, viz. : 12 in spelling, 60 in reading, 34 in arith- 

ness, profession, or occupation to which his inclination and talent 
may direct him. In all the schools the pupils are upon a footing of 
perfectly rcjjublican equality: the system, while it ensures the ac- 
quisition of knowledge to all, ensures also the ultimate general el- 
evation and refinement of society." 



THE SCIiOOLMASTER. 229 

metic, 21 in geography, 14 iu history, 19 in grammar, 4 in 
natural philosophy, 40 in other branches. I have not the 
means of stating the whole number to be Ibund in the com- 
mon schools of New- York, but there is no reason for sup- 
posing it to be less than in other states. 

This subject occupies a prominent place, in the reports of 
the special visiters appointed in 1839. Hardly a return is 
made, in which the multiplicity of schoolbooks is not pre- 
sented as an intolerable grievance, which must be removed, 
before teachers can do their duty, or scholars make proper 
proficiency. For example : " The first complaint and the 
last complaint which gr-eets a visiter in every district is, 
' My time and the time of my scholars is half wasted ; my 
patience is put to the severest trials ; my scholars are not 
advancing, from the simple want of uniform class-books.' 
Your committee are not aware of a single instance, where 
the town boards of inspectors have acted on this subject, or 
of a single common school in the county where the books 
are uniform." So from the town of Avon : " Our schools 
suffer much, also, from the want of uniformity in books. In 
all our visits, we seldom found more than three scholars to 
read in a class, for the want of corresponding books. The 
same difficulties exist relative to grammar, geography, arith- 
metic, &c." From the town of Peru : " We find a great 
deficiency in the kind of books, and the number of them ; 
generally from five to ten different kinds of reading-books 
in one school — no two schools using the same books." 
From the tovm of Fishkill : " The scholars are usually not 
properly classed — i. e., according to ability and progress ; 
each division having the same studies and using the same 
books. Such a classification seems very desirable for obvi- 
ous reasons." " In each case coming under the observation 
of the visiters, it has been pronounced impracticable ; and in 
proof of the declaration, it has been said that the following 
difiiculties exist : 

U 



230 THE SCHOOL AND 

" 1st. As to studies. Parents object, one to this, another 
to that. ' My child,' says 'one, ' must learn nothing but ci- 
phering and writing.' ' Mine,' says another, ' must not learn 
grammar.' 

"2d. As to books. ' Parents will not get them,' say the 
teachers. ' Every teacher nuist have new books,' say the 
parents. In some cases, two or three different systems are 
taught in the same school, for one or both of these reasons." 

The evils of such a system are obvious. It tends, in the 
first place, to multiply classes to such an extent, that the 
whole time of the teacher is frittered away in listening to 
hurried recitations. No opportunity is alloAved for expla- 
nations and illustrations, nor any for awakening and disci- 
plining the mind of the pupil, by a searching and skilful ex- 
amination, which will reveal the true amount of his knowl- 
edge, and the process by which he acquires it. The pupil's 
efforts are soon reduced to the mere act of remembering, 
and the teacher's to that of hearing him repeat by rote. 2d. 
It operates oppressively on the teacher if he purchases all 
the diiferent text-books which he may be called to teach in 
different schools ; and if he does not purchase them, he is 
unable to prepare himself on the different lessons, before he 
hears them recited. 3d. It prevents the introduction of the 
system of simultaneous recitation, which has been found so 
beneficial in other countries, and in some parts of our own. 
4th. The stimulating efi'ect which a large class exerts upon 
each member of it, not only when reciting, but also when 
studying, by reminding him constantly that many besides 
himself are engaged, at the same time, on the same lesson, 
and that he will soon be required to appear in their pres- 
ence, and to be measured by as well as with them ; all this 
is lost where classes are so subdivided. 5th. It adds seri- 
ously to the cost of education ; not only as it protracts the 
period required to make a child master of a study, but also 
as it increases the expense for text-books. Instead of be- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 23! 

ing worn out, they are soon cast aside to make way for new 
ones. If the additional expense imposed on each district 
annually, in this way, be but $5, the annual cost to the 
whole state would be nearly $55,000. 6th. This system, 
also, holds out a continual and direct invitation to book-ma- 
kers, publishers, agents, &c., &c., to multiply text-books, 
and thus to perpetuate and extend these various mischiefs. 

This diversity of text-books, though the source, at pres- 
ent, of unmixed evil, has grown up naturally and insensibly, 
and is not, therefore, to be charged, as a crime, on any party. 
Some boolcs, in use twenty years since, were very defective, 
and called for change ; and, in the absence of central au- 
thority to regulate these changes, and of proper skill and 
experience on the part of teachers, it is not surprising, that 
they have often been determined, by the caprice of parents, 
or the enterprise of booksellers. It is also to be consider- 
ed, that the constant change of teachers has added much to 
this evil ; it being the interest of a new teacher, on the one 
hand, to introduce such books as he has been used to, and 
of parents, on the other, to prevent an unnecessary sacrifice 
of their property. Hence has come the practice, whenever 
a book wears out, of replacing it by one, which may happen 
to be acceptable to the teacher temporarily employed ; and, 
as hardly any two in succession have the same preferences, 
we need iiot wonder, that the aggregate number has become 
immense. 

It is a subject for hearty congratulation, that the people 
are beginning to awake to a proper sense of this evil, and 
that they are demanding a reform. On this account, as well 
as on several others, the present seems a most auspicious 
lime, for devising some plan, which may prove reasonably 
permanent, and Avhich will gradually displace the almost 
endless variety of schoolbooks, by as much uniformity as can 
be expected in our country, and by all, perhaps, that is con- 
sistent with the highest improvement. It is not to be sup- 



232 THE SCHOOL AND 

posed that we have yet reached perfection in making text- 
books ; and it would be injustice, therefore, to authors, as 
well as to children, to close the door against all future chan- 
ges. But it may be assumed, that the experience of the 
last twenty years has thoroughly tested the relative merits 
of the different works now in market, and that judicious and 
enlightened men might make such a selection from them, as 
would answer well the present wants of our schools. This 
selection, too, might be so arranged, that, wliile the books 
harmonize* with each other on the one hand, they should, 
on the other, be furnished by different authors and publish- 
ers, thus preserving proper regard for the rights and inter- 
ests of those who have devoted themselves to the work of 
supplying this species of commodity. A selection, made 
with some reference to this end, would have two special ad- 
vantages. It would, in thej^r^^ place, make it the interest 
of publishers, to issue some one or two works at the least 
possible cost, and in the most perfect form, that thus they 
might secure a great and permanent sale, instead of multi- 
plying, as they now do, works of many different kinds, of 
which a large portion prove to be without value, and a source 
only of loss. In the second place, authors would be indu- 
ced, by such a course, to limit their ambition to the compo- 
sition of one book of the highest excellence, instead of as- 
piring, as so many now do, to the composition of a whole 
series, embracing all the different branches of knowledge. 

* In regard to the selection of books by committees, I have 
had occasion, during the last year, to notice a mistake or oversight 
which deserves to be mentioned. It consists in the selection of 
books which, on important points, conflict with each other, and 
therefore leave teacher and pupil in doubt what course to pursue ; 
as, for instance, the selection of Webster's Dictionary, with Wor- 
cester's or Pierpoint's Reading-books, where the rules for pronunci- 
ation contained in the former are so different from those of the lat- 
ter. — Horace, Mann — Report (1842) to the, Massachusetts Board of Ed' 
veation. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 233 

But by what means can this selection be made, and be 
commended to general favour ? This problem is, doubtless, 
a difllcult and delicate one ; and it ought to be approached 
with caution, and in the spirit of true conciliation. Teach- 
ers and school officers must remember, that the schools are 
in the hands of the people, and that no plan can perma- 
nently prosper, that does not secure their confidence and 
cordial co-operation. On the other hand, parents and em- 
ployers must remember, that to decide on the relative 
claims of different text-books is no easy task ; that nothing 
but experience and special preparation can qualify any one 
to perform it as it should be performed ; and that no portion 
of the community are so deeply interested as themselves, 
in having the work done well and wisely. They should 
also consider that, in sending their children to common 
schools, supported in part by the public, they have virtually 
consented that the state shall share in the work of regula- 
ting and superintending those schools, and that they are 
bound, therefore, to yield their own judgment to that of the 
proper functionary, and to the will of the majority. The 
state has created a general superintendent, with deputies 
in each county, and has also provided for the appointment, 
in each town, of inspectors, commissioners, &c., who are 
to exercise, severally and in due subordination, all powers 
necessary for the general welfare of the schools. Is it not 
through these officers, aided by an enlightened and patriotic 
public sentiment, that the reform so much desired must be 
accomplished ? 

I would suggest that, in undertaking it, the following prin- 
ciples ought to be kept in view : 

1. It should commence in the several towns, and should 
be the result of a cordial understanding between the depu- 
ty superintendent, the inspectors and trustees, and the most 
judicious and active friends of education, whether teachers 
or otherwise. Town conventions for the promotion of ed- 
U2 



234 THE SCHOOL AND 

ucation would afford a most favourable opportunity for 
bringing about a good understanding on this subject, 

2. It should aim at preserving the most valuable text- 
books now in use, excluding the worthless, and reducing 
the number to that point necessary for uniformity within 
each school. 

3. It should contemplate gradual rather than sudden 
changes. Parents should not be required, in all cases, to 
purchase new books immediately, but only so fast as old 
ones are worn out. A list of books selected should be 
kept posted up in the schoolhouses, and Avhen new books 
are wanted, it should be understood, that none can be used 
but such as are on this list. To accelerate the progress 
of the reform, the late and present superintendents have 
suggested the expediency of exchanges. An extract, to be 
given presently, will explain this plan. 

4. The body which selects books should take pains to 
set forth the urgent necessity for some reform in this mat- 
ter, and should recommend rather than enjoin. 

5. In adopting a series of books, regard should be had 
to the practice of neighbouring towns or counties. The most 
important thing is to have uniformity in each district ; the 
next most important is to have it in towns ; then in coun- 
ties, &c. 

6. Changes should be subject to the supervision of the 
state and deputy superintendents ; and when a uniform se- 
ries of books has once been introduced into any school, it 
should not be altered without their consent. 

7. A uniform system for the whole state, if desirable, 
can only be reached after a term of years, and ought to be 
adopted on the recommendation of the state superintendent, 
by and with the advice of the deputy superintendents. 

I close this subject with an extract from the instructions 
lately issued from the office of the state superintendent, and 
which are intended as a guide to the deputy superintend- 
ents. — {Instructions, p. 195.) 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 235 

" The looks of elementary instruction. — It is believed that 
there are none now m use in our schools that are very de- 
fective ; and the difference between them is so slight, that 
the gain to the scholar will not compensate for the heavy- 
expense to the parent, caused by the substitution of new 
books Avith every new teacher ; and the capriciousness of 
change which some are apt to indulge on this subject, can- 
not be too strongly or decidedly resisted. Trustees of dis- 
tricts should look to this matter when they engage teach- 
ers." 

" One consequence of this practice is the great variety of 
text-books on the same subject, acknowledged by all to be 
one of the greatest evils which afflict our schools. It com- 
pels the teacher to divide the pupils into as many classes 
as there are kinds of books, so that the time wliich might 
have been devoted to a careful and deliberate hearing of a 
class of ten or twelve, where all could have improved bAr 
the corrections and observations of the instructer, is almost 
wasted in the hurried recitations of ten or a dozen pupils in 
separate classes, while, in large schools, some must be 
wholly neglected. Wherever the (deputy) superintendents 
find this difficulty existing, they should not fail to point out 
its injurious consequences, and to urge a remedy by the 
adoption of unifonn text-books as speedily as possible. To 
accomplish this, let the trustees, under the advice of the 
teacher, inspectors, and superintendent, determine what 
text-books shall be used in each study, and require every 
child thereafter coming to the school to be provided with 
the designated books. Tliis very desirable uniformity may, 
perhaps, be facilitated by exchanges between different dis- 
tricts, of the books that do not correspond with those in 
general use, for such as do. For instance, in one school 
the great majority of spelling-books may be those of Web- 
ster, with some of Marshall's, while the latter may predom- 
inate in another district, in which there are also several of 



236 THE SCHOOL AND 

Webster's. In such cases, an exchange of the differing 
books between the two v^ould obviously be mutually bene- 
ficial. The superintendents might assist in the execution 
of such an arrangement, by noting the proportions of the 
various books in the different schools." 



SECTION vr. 

IMPROVEMENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 

" All the provisions hitherto described would be of none effect, if 
we took no pains to procure for the public school thus constituted an 
able master, and worthy of the high vocation of instructing the peo- 
ple. It cannot be too often repeated, that it is the master that 
makes the school." — Guizot. 

VI. Incompetency of Teachers. — That a large propor- 
tion of common school teachers are not well qualified for 
tlieir duties, is so generally admitted, that proof of it would 
be superfluous. I proceed, therefore, to inquire how the 
evil can be corrected. 

It is quite evident, that such an evil can be thoroughly cured 
only by removing its cause. What, then, is the cause of this 
prevailing incompetency of teachers ? Itw .' be found, if I 
mistake not, in the single fact, that the public, including more 
especially parents and employers, have had no proper no- 
tion of the nature, difficulty, and importance of the office 
which the teacher discharges. The state of public opinion 
on this subject, in our country, has not been greatly in ad- 
vance of that which prevailed in Prussia sixty years since. 
" Public instruction," says a late Prussian writer (Wittich*), 

• See a paper on the Former and Present Condition of Element- 
ary Schools in Prussia, by N. Wittich, native of Tilsit, Prussia, in 
the first volume of the publications of the Central Education So- 
ciety. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 237 

referring to the state of common schools in his country at 
that period, " pubUc instruction was then a mechanic art, 
not unlike that of a cobbler ; for teaching was synonymous 
with filling the memorj^ of a child ; reading was imparted 
by the most simple method of syllabication, and arithmetic 
without the least indication of the natural relations existing 
between numbers. At this time any man was deemed fit to 
hold the office of schoolmaster in an elementary school. If 
he Avas uninstnicted in some branch of the requisite knowl- 
edge, the study of a few days or weeks was considered suf- 
ficient to supply the deficiency. Hence it happened that 
most of these teachers were persons who had previously 
tried their fortune in some other business, and had not suc- 
ceeded. They commonly continued to practise their art, as 
mending old clothes, &c., either after schooltime, or even, 
sometimes, diuring the attendance of the children. The dis- 
cipline was as simple and as ineffective as the method of 
teaching, consisting of a continual use of the stick." 

With this portrait, Avhich would serve to represent the 
character of primary instruction throughout Europe at the 
time referred to, and which, in its essential features, is but 
too much like the teaching now prevalent in our own com- 
mon schools, contrast the following description of a good 
schoolmaster, by one of the first statesmen and philosophers 
of the age. Says Guizot, in the speech with which he in- 
troduced " the law of primary instruction" to the French 
Chamber of Deputies : " What a well-assorted union of 
qualities is required to constitute a good schoolmaster ? A 
good schoolmaster ought to be a man who knows much 
more than he is called upon to teach, that he may teach 
with intelligence and with taste ; who is to live in an humble 
sphere, and yet have a noble and elevated mind, that he may 
preserve that dignity of mind and of deportment, without 
which he will never obtain the respect and confidence of 
families ; who possesses a rare mixture of gentleness and 



238 THE SCHOOL AND 

firmness ; for, inferior though he be, in station, to many indi- 
viduals in the commune, he ought to be the obsequious ser- 
vant of none ; a man not ignorant of his rights, but thinking 
much more of his duties ; showing to all a good example, 
and serving to all as a counsellor ; not given to change his 
condition, but satisfied with his situation, because it gives 
him the power of doing good ; and who has made up his 
mind to live and to die in the service of primary instruction, 
which to him is the service of God and his fellow-creatures. 
To rear masters approaching to such a model is a difficult 
task, and yet we must succeed in it, or we have done nothing 
for elementary instruction. A bad schoolmaster, like a bad 
parish priest, is a scourge to a commune ; and though we are 
often obliged to be contented with indifferent ones, we must 
do our best to improve the average quality."* 

The first step towards rearing teachers of this lofty spirit 

"^ In the same spirit he addresses teachers in a circular : " No 
sectarian or party spirit," he exclaims, "in your schools; the 
teacher must rise above tlie fleeting quarrels which agitate society. 
Faith in Providence, the sanctity of duty, submission to parental au- 
thority, respect for the laws, the prince, the rights of all, such are 
the sentiments he must seek to develop." So in the following pic- 
ture of the painful duties of the teacher, and of the consolations 
which he must find within himself " There is no fortune to be 
made ; there is little renown to be gained in the obligations which 
the teacher fulfils. Destined to see his life pass away in a monot- 
onous occupation, sometimes even to experience the injustice or in- 
gratitude of ignorance, he would often be saddened, and perhaps 
would succumb, if he did not derive courage and strength from other 
sources than the prospect of immediate or personal reward. He 
must be sustained and animated by a profound sense of the moral 
importance of his labours ; the austere pleasure of having served his 
fellow-creatures, and secretly contributed to the public welfare, must 
be his compensation, and that his conscience alone can give. It is 
his glory not to aspire to aught beyond his obscure and laborious 
condition ; to exhaust himself in sacrifices scarcely noticed by those 
whom they benefit ; to toil, in short, for man, and to expect his rec- 
ompense only from God." 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 239 

in our own country, is to satisfy the people of its necessity. 
In France and Prussia, it was sufficient if the government 
appreciated this necessity. But with us, where schools are 
placed under the immediate control of the inhabitants, nothing 
will answer but a profound conviction, on their part, that a 
reform is needed, and that that reform must be their own 
work. To desire better teachers is but the first step. With 
that desire, must be combined a readiness to provide the 
means for supporting them, and a disposition to assign them 
«he rank, and consideration, to which they are entitled by 
their services. It is idle to talk of there being a real and 
general demand for the best teachers, so long as employers 
expect to procure an instructor for their children, at the same 
price, that they pay to labourers on the farm, or in the kitchen. 
When properly-qualified teachers are called for, in a distinct 
and emphatic manner, and when the people show that they 
are capable of distingiiishing between real merit and noisy 
pretension, then, and not till then, there will be a demand 
indeed, and that demand will be supplied. The conscien- 
tious will feel urged to qualify themselves for a duty so high 
and important, and the enterprising will be incited, by the 
hope of a return, proportioned to the magnitude and respon- 
sibility of their labours. 

It must not be forgotten, that in this country, broad ave- 
nues to success seem to open before every young man as he 
enters life, and that but few, who are properly qualified to 
teach, will consent to confine themselves, for life, to common 
schools. It is partly on this account, that I have already 
urged, so strenuously, the pennanent employment of female 
teachers. But I would still more strenuously urge that, 
whether we employ males or females, we can never hope, 
in such a countrj'-, to have good pennanent teachers, unless 
the prevailing method of hiring and treating them is changed. 
We not only ofi'er them a pitifully small remuneration ; we 
also engage them but for short periods of time ; we subjecl 



240 THE SCHOOL AND 

them to no effective supervision ; we provide them with but 
a small number of scholars, and those of all ages and de- 
grees of attainment; and we finally dismiss them at the 
expiration of a few months — perhaps after subjecting them 
to studied indignities — without an expression of gratitude 
or interest. Is it in man, to labour perseveringly and faith- 
fully under such a system, except it be on the single ground 
of benevolence ? and to the benevolent, be it remembered, 
there are more inviting, fields, since there are those, which 
promise an ampler and a quicker return. 

We are told, that we must regenerate our schools by 
training up teachers specially qualified, and we are pointed 
to Prussia and Holland, where this measure has been the 
great instrument of reform. We forget, however, that to 
train up teachers is useless, unless they can be induced to 
devote themselves to their profession, and that, in this coun- 
try, such will not be the case, unless schools are so organ- 
ized and conducted, as to present the prospect of fixed and 
agreeable employment. Suppose a Prussian or Dutch 
teacher, after having been trained to his duties, were to be 
placed in a schoolhouse by the roadside, unpainted, and 
perhaps half unglazed ; standing directly on the highway ; 
without play-ground, or shade, or retreat for the perform- 
ance of nature's most private and necessary offices ; where 
he can collect but about thirty scholars, comprising those 
of both sexes and all ages ; pursuing their studies in text- 
books whose name is legion ; giving, perhaps, but half the 
days of each week to the school, and showing, too many 
of them, by their manners, that they are unaccustomed to 
restraint at home, and impatient of it when applied abroad. 
Then proclaim to him, as he enters on his duties, that his 
compensation shall, at the most, not exceed one dollar for 
every working-day, and, in many cases, be less than half 
that sum ; that even this pittance can be extended to him 
only for three or four months at a time, when he must give 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 241 

place to a cheaper successor ; that for one half of each year, 
at least, he inust seek a precarious subsistence in another 
locality, and, perchance, in another pursuit ; and that, while 
employed in his temporary school, instead of having a fixed 
and comfortable home, he must wander throughout his dis- 
trict, fixing his home successively in different famiUes ! I 
ask, how many of the twenty thousand teachers, who are 
now patiently pursuing their untiring and unostentatious, but 
not unhonoured labours in the common schools of Prussia, 
could be induced, on such terms, to plant themselves in the 
schoolhouses of free America, or who of them would not 
prefer the plough, or the mechanic's toil, before the thankless 
and unrequited office of a schoolmaster ? 

The Prussian schoolmaster devotes himself to teaching 
for life, because he knows that, for life, it will yield him an 
adequate support. The government assigns him a post, 
and this post it guaranties to him, during good behaviour. 
It supplies him Avith a house and garden, and encourages 
him to collect around him all the comforts of life. It se- 
cures, also, that his salary shall be punctually paid ; pre- 
scribes a course of study to which every child is obliged to 
confonn ; enforces a regular and universal attendance of all 
children of the proper age, and provides a system of rigid 
inspection and supervision. The school is so connected 
with the Church, and so honoured by law as well as by 
usage, that the teacher is considered inferior only to the 
pastor. His employers dwell in the same hamlet, so that 
children can be always at school ; and if eminent for his 
zeal and fidelity, his fame is certain to reach his superiors, 
and to command applause not only, but substantial reward 
or promotion. And, finally, he has the cheering assurance 
that when, in the discharge of his high, but toilsome and 
anxious duties, he has worn out his best days, he will not 
at last be dismissed and forgotten, but will be held in hon- 
oiu"ed rememlirance by those Avhom he has instructed, and 
X 



242 THE SCHOOL AND 

will be permitted to retire on a pension from his govern- 
ment. 

It will be found that in Prussia, and the other countries 
of Europe most distinguished for improved systems of pub- 
lic instruction, the training of teachers has gone hand in 
hand with a reorganization of the schools, and with strin- 
gent regulations in regard to the attendance of scholars, the 
choice of schoolbooks, the construction of schoolhouses, 
and the rate of teachers' wages. It must be so here. What 
was accomplished in those cases, promptly and eflectively, 
by the centralized and almost unlimited power of the gov- 
ernment, must be accomplished, here, by the sIoav progress 
of public opinion. While discussion and agitation contrib- 
ute to develop, on the one hand, the necessity there is for 
a better class of teachers, the example of even a small 
number, who may be trained up and stationed in different 
parts of the state, Avill soon serve to strengthen this feeling. 
Everything depends, in this country, on having the people 
thoroughly penetrated with the conviction that our common 
schools must be good schools ; and that, in order to make 
them so, they must receive the united support of all citi- 
zens, and must be rendered attractive to a superior class of 
teachers. It must be felt, that not only better teachers are 
wanted, but better employers also. A spirit of co-operation 
and liberality must be awakened. The position of instruct- 
ers must be made permanent, and they must receive that 
consideration, to which they are so well entitled by the in- 
trinsic dignity of their office, and which will tend so much 
to lighten their labours. Every individual can do some- 
thing, towards a consummation so desirable. By reading 
journals and books devoted to the subject of education, and, 
above all, by visiting schools, and reflecting on what he 
sees, each one can rouse in his own mind a clearer per- 
ception, and a deeper feeling of what is needed, and of 
what he himself should do- Teachers, however well qual- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 243 

ified, need aid and encouragement, and it should never be 
forgotten that the regeneration of our schools must be the 
joint work of the people who employ, the instructers who 
teach, and the government which superintends. 

While I thus insist upon the necessity of something be- 
sides new methods of training teachers, I would also remind 
teachers themselves, that they may do great things towards 
improving our schools, if they have but the will, and employ 
the right means. If their only object is, to teach for a few 
months for the sake of money, and if it is apparent that their 
thoughts and interests are away from their school, they will 
deserve little respect, and need expect none. So, if they 
betake themselves to this employment merely to escape hard 
work, and are satisfied, if they can, from year to year, wring a 
license to teach from careless or ignorant inspectors, they 
should, in such case, remember, that their labours are an in- 
jury rather than a blessing, and that they merit neither pay, 
nor consideration. If, on the other hand, they have a prop- 
er sense of their duties, and strive to qualify themselves for 
their due performance ; if they are diligent, in acquiring 
more knoAvledge of the various branches of elementary 
learning, and more skill in imparting that knowledge to oth- 
ers ; if they have a generous ambition to send back their 
pupils improved in wisdom and virtue, that thus they may be 
known as real benefactors of the world, let them be assured 
that such teachers will be honoured and rewarded. Their 
example will prove contagious. Not only will other teach- 
ers emulate their efforts, but parents will imbibe the same 
spirit, and the work of improving our schools will quickly 
become popular and general. " We have seldom known 
teachers," say the visiters (1840) of one of our largest coun- 
ties, " who understand their business ; who take a pride and 
satisfaction in devoting all their energies to the good of their 
school and of the district ; Avho have made themselves ac- 
quainted with all the families in the district, with their weak- 



244 THE SCHOOL AND 

nesses, prejudices, and wishes ; and, in short, acted the par! 
of the good Samaritan to all, without regard to compensation 
for the first quarter only — we say we have seldom known 
such a teacher under the necessity of leaving a district fox 
want of the highest wages. Therefore, let those who wish 
good wages and a permanent sitiiation be impressed with 
this fact, and act in view of it." 

teachers' seminaries or normal schools. 

We have already intimated, that better means for educa- 
ting teachers, and qualifying them for their peculiar duties 
ought to be provided ; but we have been anxious, at the 
same time, to enforce the too-much-neglected truth, that in 
conjunction with such means, improvements should be made 
in the existing methods of organizing and conducting 
schools. Where population is crowded and employment 
scarce, young persons educated to a particular calling are 
not likely to quit it. But \xi a country like ours, where 
there are so many broad and open fields for enterprise, and 
where knowledge and talent bestow such influence, we mny 
establish normal schools and educate young p-^rsons to be- 
come teachers at great expense, and yet fail to secure their 
services. We are not, therefore, to infer that such schools, 
when estabHshed here, will prove as efficient as they have 
been found to be in Europe, nor that they can supersede the 
call, for strenuous and judicious measures to reorganize our 
whole system of primary instruction. 

There is another circumstance which deserves consider- 
ation, as distinguishing our system from that which prevails 
in Prussia, and Holland. In those countries, especially in 
Prussia, there is no connexion between common schools^ 
and the higher seminaries of learning. The former are in- 
tended exclusively for the education of the working class ; 
the laner for those who intend to devote themselves to the 
liberal professions. Very rarely does a child pass from a 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 245 

Prussian common school into a gymnasium, and from thence 
to the University ; as, here, he passes from the district school 
to an academy, and from thence, again, to college. With us, 
who know no distinction of caste, all are parts of one sys- 
tem for the education of the people. With them, primary 
schools, and normal institutions for preparing the teachers of 
primary schools, form one system — the seminaries for the 
education of the upper classes, as they are termed, form 
another. A young man, in Prussia, who enters the gymna- 
sium,* expects to pass through the University ; nor does he 
ever expect, during his o^\ti course of education or after- 
ward, to become a teacher in a primary school. In this 
country, nothing is more common, than for a youth who has 
passed his earlier years in a common school, to go to an 
academy for a few months to complete his education, as he 
terms it, and often he does it for the special purpose of pre- 
paring himself to teach. Here, all profess to aspire to the 
best education they can possibly obtain ; and hence, when a 
cliild enters a common school at the age of five, though his 
parents may be ever so humble in rank, and his own means 
ever so limited, it is still uncertain at what point his ele- 
mentary instruction may stop, whether in the common 
school, in the academy, in the college, or in the professional 
school of law, medicine, or theology. Many, again, after 
leaving the common school in early life, and engaging for 
some years in active or laborious pursuits, return to study ; 
and, without waiting to perfect their English education, pro- 
ceed at once to Latin and Greek, or such other branches as 
will facilitate an immediate entrance on a profession. It is 
also to be remembered, that in this country, a considerable 
proportion of those who teach winter schools are actually 

* If it be asked where a German youth, intended for the Univer- 
sity, is placed until he becomes qualified by age and attainments to 
enter the gymnasium, we answer — under private tutors, or in schools 
specially intended for the higher classes of society. 
X2 



246 THE SCiiOOL AND 

Students in colleges and academies, who take up the ei»- 
ploynient for a time ; and who, though deficient in some im- 
portant respects, are still usefid, as they carry down to the 
district school, the spirit and views, which they have ac- 
quired in higher seminaries. 

It will be evident, from this statement, that in Prussia, 
normal schools were indispensable. The primary schools 
had hitherto supplied their own teachers. They were fur- 
nished, in hardly any instance, from the higher institutions. 
When, then, the government came to infuse life and energy 
into the hitherto dormant system of primary education, it 
must needs have had recourse to some new expedient, for 
supplying competent teachers. As it would be idle to at- 
tempt to reanhnate a lifeless body through means furnished 
only by itself; so it would be equally idle to think, that minds 
already deadened by studying in a primary school could be 
the means of awakening that school to a new life. When- 
ever schools supply their own teachers for a long period of 
time, there is a strong tendency towards mechanical and 
monotonous modes of instruction ; and nothing can well ar- 
rest this tendency, but the stimulus of an active competition 
on the one hand ; or the circumstance that the school favours 
so free and thorough a development, that both teachers and 
taught are fired with the spirit of self-improvement, on the 
other. 

Hence new measures, for the supply of common school 
teachers, became necessary ; and in Europe, it was natural 
that this want should be met, by the establishment of new 
seminaries. In this country, and especially in -this state, 
it seems to have been equally natural to look, in the first in- 
stance, to academies. These institutions were already es- 
tablished in nearly every county ; and they had long been 
regarded, as an important source for the supply of good teach- 
ers. They formed, too, an essential part of that system of 
public instruction which the state had matured ; and the sev- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 247 

eral parts of which, it was deemed most desirable to bind to- 
gether, in close connexion. Departments in such academies 
ibr training teachers would, at the same time, be much less 
expensive than independent normal schools, and if sufli- 
ciently eflective, they might be attended by some peculiar 
advantages. These considerations led, about seven years 
since, to their establishment, and it cannot be denied that 
some of them have rendered essential service. This they 
have done, as much, perhaps, by exciting other academies 
to supply similar facilities to those who may be preparing to 
teach, as by any aid which they have extended directly to 
common schools. The general effect of the measure has 
been, to render the public more sensible of the claims of 
common schools, and of the want of good teachers. It has 
contributed, also, to establish more intimate and kindly rela- 
tions between our higher and lower schools ; to awaken in 
the former more attention to the true principles of teaching ; 
and to secure that every improvement, which is made in re- 
gard either to discipline or instruction, shall become the 
common property, of all our institutions of learning. 

In one respect, however, these departments are seriously 
deficient. They make no adequate provision, for exercising 
the pupil in the practice of teaching. In most cases, too, 
the students in these departments are employed, too exclu- 
sively, in studies other than those which are pursued in pri- 
mary schools,* while in these last they are often unskill- 
ed. It is also to be regretted, that the annual allowance 



* The effect is, that such students, being overtaught in some re- 
spects, soon become dissatisfied with their duties, and are anxious 
to push themselves forward in a different career. Experience has 
shown that, even in the older countries of Europe, it is dangerous 
to push the instruction of those who are intended to act as teachers 
of primary schools, beyond that which is essential to a complete ful- 
filment of their duties. In this country the danger is evidently much 
greater. 



248 THE SCHOOL AND 

which they receive from the state, is not large enough to give 
them precedence of the classical departments in the same 
academies ; thus rendering them objects of paramount inter- 
est to the trustees and teachers, instead of their being re- 
garded, as now, in the light of unimportant appendages. It 
is, moreover, a fair ground of exception, that the theory of 
teaching, instead of being kept constantly before the pupils, 
is only a subject for occasional discussion ; and that, by mix- 
ing with other students, the ambition, which these pupils 
once had to become good teachers, is apt to be exchanged 
for a desire to enter some other profession. It is a fact 
now well ascertained, that but a small proportion of the 
members in these departments expect to become perma- 
nent teachers in common schools, and that a still smaller 
proportion ever fulfil such expectations. 

These considerations render it evident, that something is 
needed, in addition to these departments. An institution is 
needed, in which the students shall be dealt with, simply as 
teachers preparing for their work, and in which the les- 
sons they daily receive, in the theory of teaching, can at 
once be reduced to practice,* under the eye of an accom- 
plished superintendent. It should be composed of those 

♦ Mere lessons and lectures on the science and art of teaching 
are not sufficient. They may form good theoretical teachers, but 
practical skill can be gained only by experience ; and, unless oppor- 
tunities for acquiring it be afforded before they enter on their pro- 
fession, it must be gained afterward at the expense of their pupils. 
Hence primary schools should be attached to every seminary for 
teachers, in which theoretical lessons can be exemplified before the 
eye of the scholar, and he can himself be fitted, by repeated trials, 
to take part in the regular business of instruction. Such schools 
are now universal in Europe, where normal seminaries are estab ■ 
lished. They are the more necessary, to prevent the teachers who 
are found in such seminaries from becoming mere theorists. On 
the other hand, care should be used lest these seminaries be im- 
bued with a bigoted attachment to particular methods of teaching, 
or with a spirit of blind routine and imitation. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 249 

who are already well-grounded in the rudiments of an Eng- 
lish education ; it should propose, as its main object, to 
awaken inquiry among its pupils, and to train them to hab- 
its of intellectual acti\'ity ; to show them at one and the 
same time how they can instruct others, and how improve 
and cultivate themselves. It should be an institution per- 
vaded by the free spirit of learners ; not one that proposes 
to lay down stereotyped processes of teaching, but one that 
will excite its members to propose to themselves high ob- 
jects, and to prosecutp those objects in a generous and ever- 
progressive spirit. It should aim to bring out the whole 
character and disposition of its pupils ; and where it finds 
them disqualified, intellectually or morally, for the all-im- 
portant work of teaching, it should requii-e them to embrace 
some other pursuit. A few months, passed in such a sem- 
inary, would raise and enlarge a teacher's views, and give 
him an impulse, which he must feel through all his future 
life, and in which his pupils would ever have reason to re- 
joice. 

Is it not the duty of the State of New-York to supply it- 
self with at least one such institution 1 It has lately enact- 
ed a law giving new symmetry and efficiency to its common 
Bchool system ; a law which embraces several new and 
important features, and which promises to be rich in bless- 
ing. The effect of this and other causes will be seen, in 
an imusually great demand for good teachers within the 
next two years, and this demand will rapidly increase. Is 
it not incumbent on us, to take more effectual measures to 
supply it ? Why not plant a teacher's seminary or normal 
school, sufficient to accommodate one or two hundred pu- 
pils, at the Capital, v/here it can be overlooked by the offi- 
cer who has been charged by law with the superintendence 
of primary instruction ; and Avhere it can be visited by mem- 
bers of the Legislature, strangers, and othgrs, thus sending 



250 THE SCHOOL AND 

its influence to the remotest extremities of the state, and 
even of the nation.* 

Scholars instructed in such a seminary, in the various 
methods of teaching, and in the most effectual plans for or- 
ganizing and conducting schools, would carry a benignant 
influence, not only to their ow^n schools, but to all neigh- 
bouring districts. They would serve as missionaries, not 
only of better methods, but also of a higher spirit of in- 
struction, and would operate to quicken and rouse many a 
fellow-teacher, now torpid and ineflicient, but whose ener- 
gies, once awakened and directed aright, would enable 

* " When education is to be rapidly advaficed," says Mr. Bache, in 
his able Report on Education in Europe, " seminaries for teachers 
afford the means of securing this result. An eminent teacher is 
selected as director of the seminary ; and by the aid of competent 
assistants, and while benefiting the community by the instruction 
given in the schools attached to the seminary, trains, yearly, from 
thirty to forty youths in the enlightened practice of his methods ; 
these, in their turn, become teachers of schools, which they are fit 
at once to conduct, without the failures and mistakes usual with 
novices ; for, though beginners in name, they have acquired, in the 
course of the two or three years spent at the seminary, an experi- 
ence equivalent to many years of unguided effort. This result has 
been fully realized in the success of the attempts to spread the 
methods of Pestalozzi and others through Prussia. The plan has 
been adopted, and is yielding its appropriate fruits in Holland, Switz- 
erland, France, and Saxony, while in Austria, where the method of 
preparing teachers by their attendance on the primary schools is 
Btill adhered to, the schools are stationary, and behind those of 
Northern and Middle Germany. 

" These seminaries produce a strong esprit de corps among teach- 
ers, which tends powerfully to interest them in their profession, to 
attach them to it, to elevate it in their eyes, and to stimulate them 
to improve constantly upon the attainments with which they may 
have coimnenced its exercise. By their aid a standard of examina- 
tion in tlie theory and practice of instruction is furnished, which may 
be fairly exacted of candidates who have chosen a different way to 
obtain access to the profession." — See Report, p. 325. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 251 

him to outstrip the most favom-ed competitors. To show 
how much can be done by such a school in a very short 
time, I add the following testimony, taken a few years since 
before a committee of the House of Lords (England). It 
relates to the effect of the instruction given in the training 
and model schools, which had been established for teachers, 
at Dublin, by the Irish Board of National Education. The 
witness is the Rev. Eugene Congdon : 

\V]iat kind of schoolmaster have you ] I have one schoohnastei 
who has been instructed under the board, and that schoohnaster 
hae been of such use to me that I find the greatest possible advan- 
tage, satisfaction, and comfort with his services. I have put other 
teachers, male and female, under his tuition for some time, and he 
has prepared them in the same manner that he has been himself 
prepared, and thereby I Jind the business of the schools carried on 
very well. 

Was he educated at the Model School of the National Board in 
Dublin 1 He was there for three months. 

Do you think he was much improved by that education 1 He has 
been improved so far that it is a matter of astonishment to me how 
children, from the lowest ignorance of nature almost, are, in three 
quarters of a year under his tuition, not only able to spell and to 
write, but absolutely able to calculate with as much precision and 
accuracy as persons that have been for years at school before. 

Where was he brought up 1 When I got permission from the 
board to send a person forward for tuition, I advertised for persons 
that would be fit and proper. A number presented themselves. I 
selected this man of the name of Casey. I sent him to Dublin, and 
he returned to me afterward with the approbation of the board, and 
with a token of their kindness in giving him some books. 

Is BallydufT scliool in your district 1 It is. 

Is thai a good school ! He is the master of it, and I do not think 
there is in Ireland a better working school. I suppose he has at 
this moment above 300 boys in his school." 

With a central normal school, such as we have proposed, 
aided by the departments now established in academies, and 
by the peculiar facilities which are afforded in all our higher 
seminaries to those who propose to teach, the work of rais- 
ing the standard of teaching might be greatly accelerated. 



252 THE SCHOOL AND 

This would be especially the case, if the institution receiv" 
ed, at first, none but female teachers, who might be prepared 
more rapidly for the work, and who are likely to continue 
in it for a longer term of years. A central school would 
operate, not only on its own pupils, but also on those in 
academies, and Avould serve, particularly, to recall atten- 
tion to the necessity of teaching the elementary branches 
more thoroughly. In the course of a few years, a num- 
ber of teachers of the highest class, might be placed in 
every town ; and these would rear, in their schools, or 
through the stimulus of their example, a multitude more, 
who would soon be sufficient to supply all the wants of the 
state. If, on the other hand, no such measure is adopted — 
if our sole reliance, for training teachers, is on academies, 
which regard the object as a subordinate one, which afford 
no proper facilities for practice, and which inspire, in too 
many cases, a distaste for the office of teaching, rather than 
a desire to excel in it— in such case, it is greatly to be 
feared, that our common schools must continue to languish.* 

* I add here an extract from the report (1836) of M. Cousin on 
the State of Education in Holland, as regards schools for the work- 
ing classes and the poor. Speaking of the education of teachers, he 
says, " In 181 1 schoolmasters were trained in the same way as they 
now are generally ; in all the public schools, those children are se 
lected who show the most intelligence ; they are kept somewhat 
longer, and are trained for their future destination by special in- 
struction in the evening, and particularly by employing them in the 
different classes .in succession ; at tirst as assistants, with a very 
small remuneration, and then as undermasters, with a better allow 
ance, until they are placed at the head of a school when a vacancy 
occurs. That method of educating teachers for the primary schools 
is still practised, and it is, in some respects, an exrellent one. 
They are trained at a very moderate expense, and, farther, they are 
not made more than schoolmasters ; they are not taught more than 
is necessary for their profession. Brought up in school, they ac- 
quire the habits of the place, they become attached to it, and cheer- 
fully pass their whole life in it ; while masters who are reared at 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 253 

In connexion with the measure, which I have thus ven 
tared to suggest, there are two others, to which I will refer 
briefly. Teaching is a duty, -which God devolves, more 
or less, on all. Whenever a mind is visited by the light of 
truth, it ought to hold that truth, as a trust, for the benefit of 
others, as well as for its own good. As parents, we are not 
only called to teach, but also to govern and influence ; and 
in many relations of life, we have occasion to employ a skill, 
nearly allied to that, which a teacher needs in the manage- 
ment of a school. It would seem, then, that more regard 
ought to be paid to this fact, in our systems of education. 
Every child should be taught, not only how to acquire, but 
also how to communicate knowledge ; not only how to sub- 
ject his own will to the regulations of a school, but how to 
proceed when he himself woidd acquire influence over the 

greater expense and with more refined cultivation, run the risk of 
becoming less suited to the hard life that awaits them, take to it 
only when they can do no better, and quit it for something else as 
soon as they possibly can. These are the advantages of the sys- 
tem ; but it has also great disadvantages. It is very apt to engmidcr 
habits of rou'inc ; every defect which has got into the school takes root ; 
the scholar and future teacher adopts, blindly at first, and afterward 
follows with interested minuteness, the whole manner of the master 
on whom all his hopes depend, and thus generation after genera- 
tion of teachers may succeed, without one step in the way of im- 
provement being made. 

" / attach the greatest importance to normal primary schools, and 
consider that all future success in the education of the people de- 
pends upon them. In perfecting her system of primary schools, 
normal schools were introduced for the better training of masters. 
The government was cautious not to lay aside the old method, which 
was very good, but, at the same time that they continued it, they es- 
tablished in 1816 two normal schools. All the school inspectors 
whom I met with in the course of my journey assured me that they 
had brought about an entire change in the condition of the school- 
master, and that they had given the young teachers a feeling of 
dignity in their profession, and had thereby introduced an improved 
tone and style of manners." 

Y 



254 THE SCHOOL AND 

minds of others. Is not the true theory of teaching and dis- 
cipline, as proper a subject of study in a college, as the true 
theory of metaphysics or electricity ? 

The German universities appreciate this consideration. A 
chair of Catechetics, or Pedagogy, is established in every 
University, as regularly as one of Philosophy, or Mathemat- ' 
ics. Besides lectures on the theory of the art, students, 
wlio contemplate teaching as their profession, are actually 
exercised, in the presence of the professor, in making prac- 
tical trial of various methods, and all possible pains are taken, 
to inspire them with high and enthusiastic notions of the 
dignity and importance of their office. It is from this source, 
that the German normal schools derive their best teachers. 
Were these schools superintended, only by those who have 
been trained within their own walls, who have enjoyed no 
higher or more comprehensive culture than they give even 
to their own pupils, the result would be seen in the want of 
progress, and in the absence of an active and catholic spirit. 
The higher seminaries of a country are most likely to intro- 
duce improvements in teaching, because they are able to 
command the highest and most cultivated talent; and it 
ought to be considered as their duty, to propagate a knowl- 
edge of these improvements, and to send forth, in the persons 
of their pupils, men who, even though they never become 
teachers, will still feel, that they owe something to the cause 
of popular education, and will be found among the active 
and enlightened friends of every effort, which is made to im- 
prove common schools. 

The other measure, which I would suggest, is this. An 
argument, strongly urged in favour of the present depart- 
ments for teachers, is, that the academies in which they are 
established are already in possession of buildings, apparatus, 
&c., and thus a great amount of money has been saved. 
On the other hand, it is objected, that by associating two 
objects so dissimilar as general education and normal in- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 255 

struction, we provide that both shall be inadequately cared 
for, or that one shall be cherished at the expense of the 
other ; and it is added, that the normal branch is the one, 
which usually suffers from neglect. There is doubtless 
force, iu both of these considerations, and they show the im- 
portance of endeavouring to find some intermediate line of 
policy. 

Now it may well be doubted, whether the present number 
of our academies be not somewhat greater than is needed, 
since some of them seem to flourish at the expense of com- 
mon schools. On the other hand, the grants of money, 
which arc now made annually from the Literature Fund, to 
assist in the preparation of teachers, are distributed among so 
many academies that they do little good to any one of them, 
and create no sufficient inducement, on their part, to do jus- 
tice to this branch of their labours. Would it not be better, 
to reduce materially the number of these departments ; ma- 
king the allowance to each one so great, that trustees and 
instructers would feel that they owed, to the teachers' depart- 
ment, their first and chief attention 1 And would it not be 
well, also, that the classical departments in the same acad- 
emies should be gradually merged in the teachers'' depart- 
ments ; that thus a small number of these institutions mighi 
be converted, in the course of a few years, into District Nor- 
mal Schools? In this way, four or more of these district 
normal schools might be created in different parts of the 
state, without incurring any outlay for buildings or apparatus ; 
and (if a judicious selection of the academies were made) 
without even any essential change of teachers. A sufficient 
number of academies would remain ; and the Central and 
District normal schools, acting and reacting on each other, 
would operate with increased efficiency, and would rapidly 
revolutionize the teaching of our common schools. 



256 THE SCHOOL AND 

DEFECTIVE SUPERVISION. 

I come now to speak of the last great defect in the work- 
ing of our common school system. This is the want of 
■proper care in licensing teachers and in inspecting schools. 

Common school teachers are confidential agents ; em- 
ployed, by parents, to discharge a duty, for which they are 
themselves disqualified, by the want either of the necessary 
leisure, or of the requisite ability. Now it is a settled prin- 
ciple, in regard to all agencies, that the zeal and fidelity of 
the agent will be proportioned, to the care and enlightened 
interest, with which his proceedings are superintended and 
encouraged by the principal. If an employer manifests lit- 
tle solicitude about his business, he can hardly expect great 
diligence or concern, on the part of those to whom he in- 
trusts it. This is so universally acknowledged, that a gov- 
ernment, which should neglect to act upon it, would be re- 
garded as most imwise and unfaithful. In every depart- 
ment of the public service, a rigid system of accountability 
is looked upon as the main secret for securing efficiency 
and fidelity ; and in order to maintain such a system, princi- 
pals are held responsible for the proceedings of their sub- 
ordinates. 

The reasons for all this are obvious. In x\\q first place, 
few men are sufficiently upright and disinterested, to be in- 
trusted for a long time with irresponsible power, or with an 
agency which no human eye supervises. 

In the second place, if such were not the case, the agent, 
however faithful and devoted, still needs the animating as- 
surance, that his labours are known and appreciated by his 
employer, and that he is not left to pursue his solitary and 
exhausting toils, without sympathy or approbation. 

In the third place, the principal should overlook the op- 
erations of liis agent, for his own sake ; since it is the only 
way, in which he can maintain a proper interest in, or a 
proper knowledge of, affairs which pertain to him, much 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 257 

move intimately than to any one else. I ought, perhaps, to 
add here, that the supervision, for which I contend, is a 
friendly, or, at least, an impartial, no less than a watchful 
one. Principals sometimes exhibit a restless and suspi- 
cious spirit, and a disposition to interfere with the proceed- 
ings of their agent, which is productive of no benefit ; while 
it is often fraught with infinite vexation to the parties, and 
with nothing but mischief to the service. 

Is there any reason, why teachers should be exempted 
from the operation of these principles 1 We employ them 
in one of the most delicate and important oflices, which can 
be intrusted to man. On their fidelity and competency, de- 
pend alike our own happiness, and the dearest interests of 
oiu: children. They are charged with duties, which can 
be properly fulfilled, only by those who have a rare combi- 
nation of intellectual and moral qualities ; and, however 
highly endowed, they still need, if they are to labour with 
pleasure to themselves, or profit to their pupils, the counte- 
nance and active co-operation of their employers. What- 
ever reasons, then, require that a wise and vigilant super- 
vision should be applied to other agencies, hold, in their 
case, with tenfold force. Yet in this country, the school- 
master, who most needs supervision, is almost the only 
agent, to whom no supervision is extended. He enters upon 
his duties, in many cuoos, without aftbrding any adequate ev- 
idence* that he is qualified for them ; and he discharges or 

* " The most imperfect arrangement for providing teachers is that 
which requires an examination into merchj the knowledge of the can- 
didate in the branches to be taught. This is specially imperfect in 
the case of elementary instruction, where the knowledge required 
is small in amount, and where the art of teaching finds its most dif- 
ficult exercise. The erroneous notion, that an individual can teach 
whatever he knows, is now generally abandoned; and in those 
countries which still adhere to the old method, of depending solely 
upon examinations for securing competent teachers, examination is 
made, not only of the acquirements of the candidate, but of his 
Y2 



258 THE SCHOOL AND 

neglects them, often from quarter to quarter, without notice 
or animadversion. 

Whose is the fault 1 The law has provided four classes 
of officers, who are charged with the duty, of examining 
teachers or superintending their operations. 1. The trus- 
tees of each district, who are clothed with all requisite pow- 
ers, for the immediate government of the school and teach- 
er. 2. The inspectors and commissioners, who are elected 
in each town, and whose business it is to examine teachers, 
and to make a tour of personal inspection through all the dis- 
tricts, in the town, in each year. 3. The deputy superin- 
tendent, who is elected in each county, and who is clothed 
with most important advisory powers in regard to schools, 
teachers, &c. 4. The state superintendent, who, besides 
a general supervision, exercises an appellate jurisdiction 
over all cases, previously decided by trustees, inspectors, 
and other local officers. Of these four classes, the first two 
are chosen directly by the people ; the third is chosen by 
the board of supervisors in each county ; and the fourth by 
the members of the Senate and Assembly of the state, voting 
in joint ballot. They are all, therefore, popular officers. 

These offices have been created, not to relieve parents 
from the necessity of bestowing their personal attention on 
schools, but to aid them in performing that duty more effect- 
ually, and also to subserve other important purposes. There 
are certain duties connected with supervision, such as the 
examining and licensing of teachers, which could not be 
properly discharged by the inhabitants, collectively or separ- 
ately, even though all were competent to the task. There 
are others, again, which call for peculiar qualifications ; and 
others which are essentially official, since the object is, to 
keep up a connexion between the schools and the state au- 
thorities, and to impart unity and harmony to the whole sys- 

ability to give instruction." — Bache's Report on Education in Eu- 
rope, p. 323. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 259 

tern of primary instruction. But, inasmuch as this system 
was instituted for the sole benefit of the people, and must 
depend for its efficiency on their support and co-operation, 
the law has devolved on them, the duty of choosing those of- 
ficers who have more immediate charge of the schools, and 
has also made it their right, to visit the schools personally. 
It must be obvious, then, that it rests with the people them- 
selves, and with them only, to decide, how far there shall be 
thorough and searching supervision. If they are careful to 
elect competent trustees and inspectors, and to encourage 
them to perform their important duties, faithfully and fear- 
lessly ; and if, in addition to this, they give such personal 
attention to the teacher, and to his course of procedure, as 
is plainly due to one, who is moulding the character and 
destiny of their own children, then all will be well — other- 
wise, all will be ill. 

What, then, has hitherto been the fact ? I answer by a 
few extracts from the reports, already so often referred to, 
of the special visiters. I give but specimens, the returns 
being filled with passages of the same import. 

And, first, in regard to the licensing of teachers. " Un- 
qualified and unworthy teachers very often receive certifi- 
cates of qualification and character. This is universally 
acknowledged to be the greatest evil our schools have to 
contend with. Trustees frequently interfere with inspect- 
ors when prejudiced in favour of the applicant ; and inspect- 
ors being chosen at political meetings, little regard is had 
to their qualifications. Again, if they once disregard the 
views and wishes of one set of trustees, they are sure to be 
put out of office at the next election. Consequently, thor- 
ough and independent men, if they ever get the office, do not 
hold it long enough to work anything like a reformation. 
Under these circumstances, few men try to do anything while 
they are in office more than merely to avoid the penalty of 
the law." Thus write the visiters of one large county. 



260 THE SCHOOL AND 

" It has come to the knowledge of the board, that the law 
in regard to qualified teachers is evaded in its spirit, and 
that schools are, in consequence, actually instructed by per- 
sons having no certificate of qualification, and really unable 
to obtain one from incompetency. The way in which it is 
done is to employ, for four months in the summer, when the 
school is small, a female teacher having a certificate, gen- 
erally at a very low rate, say eight dollars per month. This 
fulfils the letter of the law, and enables them to draw the 
public money. For the residue of the year a male teacher 
is employed, v,^ithout a certificate, and unqualified for the 
station. The low rate of wages he is willing to take is 
the inducement." Thus write the visiters of another large 
county. 

" Ten years' experience in common school teaching," 
says another visiter, " has suggested to my mind many im- 
provements. If much more were required of the districts 
to entitle them to the ' public money,' much good would be 
the result. I also think our system of inspecting teachers 
sadly deficient. Our commissioners and inspectors are 
elected so much in view of the party, that many can be 
found among them who know not the first rudiments of an 
English education." 

" There is not," says another, " sufficient attention paid 
by the inspectors when examining teachers. Generally 
there is too great laxness in not refusing those who are 
poorly qualified. Again, if a teacher gets rejected in one 
town, he has but to go to the adjoining one, and there he 
gets a certificate with as much pomp and eclat as a lord. 
What he should be examined in should be specified by law, 
and not left for the inspectors to use their judgment upon. 
While young men who are too lazy to work can find a 
schoolhouse to -while away three or four months of the win 
ter in, and who care not whether they do well or ill, as at 
most they only intend to teach one, two, or three seasons, 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 261 

and, consequently, are not anxious about establishing a repu- 
tation as good teachers, enterprising, intelligent men, capa- 
ble of teaching well, will not engage in teaching, for the 
very reason that they cannot command a compensation com- 
mensurate with the expenses of qualifying themselves. 
They can find much better business after advancing thus 
far." It is a fact worthy of much consideration, that, in or- 
der to procure a supply of good teachers, we must begin by 
excluding bad ones. 

2d. In regard to visitation of schools by inspectors, trus- 
tees, and pare7its. 

" The lamentable condition of our schools," says one of 
the visiters, " may be, in a great measure, imputed to the fact 
that they have not been heretofore visited by the inspectors. 
Indeed, the public schools have been much neglected by all 
concerned. So far as we have been able to learn, not one 
in five of the schools in this town have, in any year, been 
visited by trustees or parents, for the purpose of examining 
their condition or encouraging their progress." 

Say the visiters of another town, " In connexion with the 
above report we will remark, that, among the evils perva- 
ding our district schools, the general apathy of the people on 
the subject is the ?nost prominent, being, in our opinion, the 
one from which most of the others arise. Parents, trustees, 
and instructers are extremely remiss in visiting schools, and 
manifest little or no interest in the condition of the school 
or in the progress of their children." 

Of another : " The schools in this town have not been blessed 
by the watchful care of the intelligent and the educated, nor by 
the supervision of the parents themselves." 

Of another : " It appears to be the great object of the dis- 
tricts to get rid of the public money in such a manner as to 
get more, the inhabitants paying little or no attention to the 
schools after they hife the teacher." 

Of another : " It is painful to see parents so inattentive 



262 THE SCHOOL AND 

as they are liere. It would seem almost right to compel men 
to do their duty." 

Of the 10,769 common schools in this state, 7nore than one 
third were not visited by the inspectors, at all, during the last 
year ; and but one quarter were visited more than once. 
These visits, too, were often useless. " The inspectors 
often sit as idle spectators instead of interested persons, on 
whom, in a great measure, hangs tlie destiny of the young. 
The schoolroom is frequently left with only this dry expres- 
sion, ' We are pleased with the school.' " 

The law requires that each inspector shall visit all. the 
schools in the town once in each year, and oftener, if in his 
estimation it be necessary. That more frequent visits are 
necessary, to secure anything like thorough supervision, 
must be evident ; yet they do not seem to be encouraged by 
the people. We have Imown instances in which inspect- 
ors and commissioners have been refused re-election on the ex- 
press ground that, being interested in the welfare of the schools, 
they had thought it their duty to visit more than once annually. 

The law providing for the remuneration of inspectors 
seems to be defective. It derives this remuneration from a 
tax on the inhabitants of the town ; and thus makes it their 
pecuniary interest, to discourage the frequent and faithful 
performance of a duty so important to their children, and to 
the common welfare. It would contribute "much to a reform 
of this evil, if the expense were defrayed by the county, or 
by the state. 

It was to supply this lamentable deficiency on the part 
of trustees, town inspectors, and parents, that the office of 
deputy superintendent was created. It is the business of 
this officer " to visit the schools personally, give counsel and 
instruction as to their management, discover errors and sug- 
gest the proper remedy, animate the exertions of teachers, 
trustees, and parents, and impart vig#ir to the whole sys-. 
tern." Having no authority except to grant and revoke li- 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 263 

censes to teachers, it is their main duty to awaken interest, 
diffuse correct notions in regard to education, and ascertain 
the precise condition of the several schools, and the general 
state and prospects of primary instruction, in their respect- 
ive counties. As the efficiency of the schools must de- 
pend chiefly on local efforts, and especially on the efforts of 
trustees, teachers, and employers, it is to encourage and sus- 
tain these, that the deputy superintendents should feel them- 
selves especially called. 

It is a subject, for deep regret, that the law establishing 
this oflice, imposes one half of the annual expense of main- 
taining it, on the county in which the deputy labours ; and 
thus predisposes the inhabitants, to regard it as a burden 
rather than a blessing. In this case, as in that of the town 
inspectors, it is much to be desired, that the law should be 
so framed, that the public will feel interested in promoting, 
rather than in obstructing, a thorough supervision. That 
such is really their interest, no reflecting person can doubt ; 
and it is believed that no county can make the experiment, 
of employing an able and judicious superintendent for a few 
years, without feeling, that his services are worth tenfold all 
that they cost. Indeed, these services tend directly to di- 
minish expense. In whatever degree, they contribute to 
raise the standard of teaching, or to improve school disci- 
pline, or to stimulate parents, trustees, and town inspectors 
to a more punctual and earnest discharge of their duties, 
in the same degree will they abridge the time, and, of 
course, the expense, necessary in order to impart a given 
amount of instruction to a child. The creation of this office 
seemed to be loudly called for, from all parts of tlje state. 
The law is framed, nearly on the model of that Avhich is 
considered the best law for securing school inspection, that 
the world has yet seen ;* and it is regarded now, by the 

* Reference is here made to the system of school inspection iu 



264 THE SCHOOL AND 

most enlightened friends of popular instruction throughout 
the country, and, I may add, throughout the world, as the 
one measure, without Avhich, our system must have remain- 
ed comparatively inert ; but with which, it must, if properly 
sustained, rise to excellence, and cover itself with honour. 
May the people be too wise, to brook the idea of its repeal, 
until its merits have been fairly tested by trial ! 

Holland. Each province is divided into a number of districts ; a 
district being about equal in population, to one of our counties. An 
inspector is appointed for each district, whose duty it is to superin- 
tend the schools, attend examinations, preside at periodical assem- 
blies of the schoolmasters, &c. To use the language of Cousin, 
they are " the officers in whose hands the whole system of primary 
instruction is virtually placed." Hence the care with which they 
are always selected. " Take care," said Mr. Van den Ende, chief 
commissioner for the primary schools of Holland, " take care whom 
you choose for inspectors ; they are a class of men who ought to be 
searched for, with a lantern in one's hand." 

There is one provision of the Dutch law, which might be ingraft- 
ed with much advantage upon our own. It is the plan of having 
provincial hoards of education, composed of the inspectors of the sev- 
eral districts in each province, who meet three times a year in the 
chief town of the province. The same end would be attained, in our 
state, if the deputy superintendents, within each senatorial district, 
were to meet twice or thrice a year at some central point, and were 
there to constitute a board for mutual consultation, and were to be 
clothed with authority over certain matters. 

It is the opinion of intelligent travellers, that education is, on the 
whole, more faithfully carried out in Holland than in most of the 
German states ; and that, notwithstanding the numerous normal 
schools of Prussia (institutions in which Holland is deficient), the 
Dutch schoolmasters are decidedly superior to the Prussian, and 
the schools of primary instruction consequently in a more efficient 
state. This superiority they attribute entirely to a belter system of in- 
spection. 



PART I r. 



THE SCHOOLMASTER. 



PROPER CHARACTER, STUDIES, AND DUTIES OF THE TEACHER, 

WITH THE 

BEST METHODS FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND INSTRUCTION OF COM- 
MON SCHOOLS, 



PRINCIPLES ON WHICH SCHOOLHOUSES SHOULD BE BUILT, ARRANGED, 
WARMED, AND VENTILATED. 



GEORGE B. EMERSON, 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY AVM. B. FOWLE & N. CAFEN, 

NO. 184 WASHINGTON ST. 

1843. 



PREFACE. 



In the following pages I have endeavoured to give an 
outline of what I consider most essential in the character, 
studies, habits, and duties of a teacher, and to present some 
of the most important methods and rules of teaching and 
governing. In doing this, I have made free use of what I 
found written upon the subject, my object being not so much 
to write an original treatise, as to collect what would be 
most valuable to the teacher of a common school. The 
writers to whom I am most indebted are J. Abbott, T. H. 
Palmer, and S. R. Hall, from " The Teacher," and " The 
Teacher's Manual," of the two former of whom I have, 
with their consent, made large quotations, and should have 
made still larger if I had not known that these works were 
in the hands of many persons interested in education, as 
they ought to be in all. Important suggestions have also 
been received from Lalor, Colburn, and others. 

The great number of subjects of which it was necessary 
to treat, in a limited space, has prevented my going fully into 
any of them. This is particularly the case with the chap- 
ter on the Cultivation of the Faculties, which is little more 
than an indication of what should be done. General prin- 
ciples only are commonly given ; and if repetition be some- 
times observed, let it be understood that certain points 



268 PREFACE. 

seemed to be so essentially important as to deserve to be 
reiterated. 

The chapter on the General Principles of Instruction I 
commend to the attention of practical educators, particular 
ly to the superintendents of normal schools, not as being 
of great value in itself, for it may, perhaps, be considered 
more defective than any other chapter, but from the impor- 
tance of a system of didactics, of which this is offered as a 
rude and imperfect sketch. 

Whatever there is of original in the M^ork, is the fruit of 
many years' experience in teaching, laborious but pleasant 
years, which have been cheered and rendered still more 
pleasant by the feeling that I was gradually finding my 
way to higher and more comprehensive modes of instruc- 
tion, and more just and generous principles of influence and 
government. 

Of the faults of the work — ^begun at the suggestion of 
another, for a particular object, to be completed at a speci- 
fied time, composed amid numerous cares, and always with 
a mind and body sufficiently exhausted by daily toil — no 
one can be more sensible than the writer. With all its 
faults, I commit it to the generosity of my brother and sister 
teachers, for whose use it was written, assuring them that 
no one will rejoice more than myself to see the methods 
and principles it recommends giving place to better. 

G. B. E 

Boston, August 3, 1842. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 



BOOK I. 

QUALITIES. 

Chapter I. Mental and Moral, important in a Teacher . . 277 
II. Health. Exercise. Diet. Sleep. Recreation . 288 

BOOK 11. 

STUDIES. 

Chapter I. Laws of the Creation 300 

11. Natural Laws 311 

III. Independence of the Natural Laws . . .315 

IV. Higher Studies 320 

V. Advantages of a Teacher's Life . . . .329 



BOOK III. 

DUTIES. 

Chapter I. To Himself Self-Culture 337 

II. To his Pupils, to give them means of Knowledge . 341 

III. " " to form their Moral Character . . 343 

IV. " " Cultivation of their Powers . . 359 
V. " " Communication of Knowledge . 378 

VI. To his Fellow-Teachers 385 

VII. To Parents and the Community , . . .390 

BOOK IV. 

THE SCHOOL. 

Chapter I. Organization 394 

II. Instruction. General Principles .... 405 

III. Teaching: 1. Reading. 2. Spelling. 3. Gram- 



270 CONTENTS. 

mar. 4. Writing. 5. Drawing. 6. Arithmetic. 
7. Accounts. 8. Geography. 9. History. 10. 
Physiology. 11. Composition .... 419 
Chapter IV. Government 487 

BOOK V. 

THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 

Chapter I. Situation 526 

II. Size 528 

III. Position and Arrangement 531 

IV. Light. Warming. Ventilation . . . .534 



INTRODUCTION. 



" Surely the great aim of an enlightened and benevolent philoso- 
phy is not to rear a small number of individuals, who may be regard- 
ed as prodigies in an ignorant and admiring age, but to diffuse, as 
WIDELY AS POSSIBLE, that degree of cultivation which may enable the 
bulk of a people to possess all the intellectual and moral improve- 
ment of which their nature is susceptible." — Stewart. 

The wisest and best men that have appeared upon 
earth have come as teachers. In remote antiquity, Con- 
fucius came, a teacher of righteousness and Avisdom among 
the Chinese. In refined and polished Greece, the wise 
Socrates was a teacher ; and the most distinguished men 
of Athens walked with him about its streets, or in the groves 
in its neighbourhood, to listen to his instructions. His pu- 
pils, Plato and Aristotle, were teachers ; and their teach- 
ings have enlightened and influenced the world down to 
the present time. Through all the history of the Jews, 
their most venerable men were teachers ; to this day they 
are teachers by their writings. Our Saviour was first 
known as a teacher of righteousness. He is still our teach- 
er. The office of teacher is in its nature the highest office. 
That it is not imiversally considered such, comes from the 
fact that so many have entered upon it without fitness of 
mind or character for its numerous duties, and that men are 
only beginning to estimate tilings according to their true 
value. 

If a stranger should go into one of our cotton manufacto- 
ries, and, seeing all the wheels and spindles moving on 
harmoniously and regularly, each performing its own part 
without interfering with the rest, and all doing their work 
well, shoidd conceive that he could, without any knowledge 



272 INTRODUCTION. 

of the principles on which the machinery is constructed, or 
of the kind of work that it ought to turn out, superintend 
and carry on the whole work, and should gravely propose 
to the directors to take charge of it, they might possibly 
consider the proposition as indicating something of self-suf- 
ficiency and presumption. And yet, if this same stranger, 
without experience, without special instruction, without ac- 
quired skill, but only with testimonials that he had a fair char- 
acter, and could read and write, should apply, in the same 
town, to the same directors, acting as a school committee, or 
as supervisors, for the place of teacher in one of their schools, 
he would be considered as making a very modest request, 
and would probably consider himself hardly dealt with if 
he were not allowed to make a trial. And what is the dif- 
ference ? In the one case, every wheel and spindle, every 
cog, and cam, and spool, and thread, obeys perfectly the law 
to which it is subjected ; a certain force gives a certain ve- 
locity, which keeps on undeviatingly until it is interrupted 
from without. In the other case, in the school, every 
wheel and spindle has a will of its own, and every one is 
constantly liable to be disordered by interruption, not only 
from without, but from within. Notwithstanding, you would 
hear the man who should undertake to manage this assem- 
blage of dead matter, contrived by man, and easily compre 
hensible by man, following blindly the laws of gravity and 
of motion, without previously understanding the structure of 
each part, and all the nice and delicate adaptations by which 
they were suited to each other, — you would hear him called 
a foolhardy and conceited fellow ; while the same individu- 
al, coming forward not only to manage and direct, but to 
improve that other infinitely more delicate machinery, every 
part of which is instinct with will and spirit, and every 
part made by an artificer, the simplest workmanship of 
whom the wisest man can but poorly comprehend, would 
be called a modest and humble man, who would doubtless 



INTRODUCTION. 273 

succeed well enough if he would but condescend to under- 
take the task. • 

And is it, indeed, so small a matter to take charge of a 
school of thinking, immortal beings, to educate their faculties, 
and prepare them for all the business and duties of life, with- 
out some previous study of the nature of those beings, and 
some serious consideration of the manner in which 'hey 
shall be best fitted for their future position and relations in 
life? 

The importance and responsibility of the office of teacher 
are sadly undervalued. A very common impression is, that 
any person of tolerable character, who has been through a 
school, and acquired the elements of the branches taught, is 
qualified to teach ; as if the art of teaching were nothing 
more than pouring into the mind of another what has been 
poured into ours ; as if there were no such thing as mind 
to act upon, habits to form, or character to influence. 
The prevailing opinions in regard to the art are such as 
the common sense of mankind and the experience of cen- 
turies have shown to be absurd as to every other art and 
pursuit of civilized life. To be qualified to discourse upon 
our moral and religious duties, a man must be educated 
by years of study ; to be able to administer to tne body in 
disease, he must be educated by a careful examination of 
the body in health and in disease, and of the effects produ- 
ced on it by external agents ; to be able to make out a con- 
veyance of property, or to draw a writ, he must be educated ; 
to navigate a ship, he must be educated by years of service 
before the mast or on the quarter-deck ; to transfer the pro- 
ducts of the earth or of art from the producer to the consu- 
mer, he must be educated ; to make a hat or a coat, he must 
be educated by years of apprenticeship ; to make a plough, 
lie must be educated ; to make a nail, or a shoe for a horse 
or an ox, he must be educated ; but to prepare a man to 
do all these things ; to train the body, in its most ten- 



274 



INTRODUCTION. 



der years, according to the laws of hea/th, so that it shall 
be strong to r^ist disease ; to fill the mind with useful 
knowledge, to educate it to comprehend all the relations of 
society, to bring out all its powers into full and harmonious 
action ; to educate the moral nature, in which the very sen- 
timent of duty resides, that it may be fitted for an honoura- 
ble and worthy fulfilment of the public and private offices 
of life ; to do all this is supposed to require no study, no ap- 
prenticeship, no preparation ! 

Fortimately, this state of feeling and opinion is passing 
away. Men are beginning to see that, however valuable 
property may be to them, the happiness and character of 
their children are much more so : that it is of consequence 
who shall be their guides, the formers of their habits, and 
the instmcters of their minds in the plastic period of their 
life ; that it is quite as important to get suitable persons to 
take charge of their schools, as of their factories, workshops, 
or farms. Everything indicates this change : the acts of 
legislative bodies in reference to the common schools, the 
earnest inquiries of school committees and individuals for 
better teachers, and that not in one or two states only, but 
in the whole country, — everything shows that the value of 
good instruction is already felt, and that a higher tone on 
this subject is beginning to prevail. 

It is with reference to this change, and in consequence of 
it, that tliis volume is prepared. It is an advantage pos- 
sessed by the business of teaching over most others, that 
very much can be done towards preparing for it by self-cul- 
tivation. Its object is the culture of the faculties and the 
elevation of the character. How this is best to be done 
must be found out, in some measure, by the study of the fac- 
ulties and of the elements of the character, as they exist 
within the mind of the student himself. To this end the 
experience of each individual, however humble, is valuable. 
He must be instructed by reflection on the operations of his 



INTRODUCTION. 275 

own mind, on the action of liis own affections and propen- 
sities. This is a most important part of the study ; and if 
the faculties, affections, and propensities of all men were 
alike, it might almost take the place of all other modes of 
study. But the rtiost cursory inspection of the cliildren in 
any school, or even family, is sufficient to show that they 
differ extremely in the degree in which they are naturally 
endowed with the various powers of the mind and other el- 
ements of the character, and in the facility with which 
these are cultivated. This renders it necessary for us to 
profit by the experience of others. It is our own character 
only that we can know perfectly by looking into our own 
hearts. To know others, we must be able to look into 
theirs, or, since that cannot be done, we must take advan- 
tage of the conclusions to which they have come from the 
study of their o\vn character, and their observation on the 
character and faculties of others. 

Still more necessary is it to avail ourselves of the obser- 
vation and experience of others in our attempts to teach, 
to call out and to discipline the powers of the mind, to 
communicate in the best manner the important arts of read- 
ing, writing, and calculating, and whatever else is or should 
be deemed essential in a good education, and to exert a 
wholesome and permanent influence over the future charac- 
ter. In regard to all or any of these things, each one of us 
can have made but few observations or experiments on him- 
self, when he begins the work of instructing others. Each* 
of us has been taught to read by some one particiilar method. 
If the method was a good one, we enjoy all its benefits our 
whole life long, but we can have no idea of the ill effects of 
bad methods that we have not tried. If, on the contrary, 
the method by which we have been taught is a bad one, we 
must daily feel its effects, in the little enjoyment we derive 
from reading, or in the difficulty we find in commanding our 
attention and fixhig it on the book before us, or in the little 



fi76 INTRODUCTION. 

pleasure we can communicate to others by reading aloud. 
But experience of the evil consequences of a bad method 
does not necessarily teach us anything in regard to a better, 
and we must learn from others that there are methods by 
means of which we might have acquired a distinctness 
of articulation, a command of our attention, and a love of 
reading, which would have made it a perennial source of en- 
joyment and improvement to ourselves and to others. Sim- 
ilar observations might be made upon other branches of study. 
The sad conviction that we have wasted our time upon a 
bad method, does not teach us that there is a better. To 
learn this, we must make inquiries ; we must ask those who 
have tried experiments upon themselves or others. It is of 
vast importance to a teacher to have access to a large store 
of successful experiments. 

The objects of the following work are, 

I. To point out what qualities are important in a teacher. 

'I. To show by what course of study and thought he 
shctuld discipline himself. 

;■}. To point out particularly the duties of the teacher of a 
common school. 

4. To recommend some modes of performing them ; that 
iS; to speak of the studies, modes of teaching, discipline, 
and goveriunent of such a school. 



B () O K I. 

QUALITIES. 
CHAPTER I. 

THE MORAL QUALITIES IMPORTANT IN A TEACHER. 

" Every teacher who understands and who practices the genuine 
ethics of liis profession, contributes more largely than any person ex- 
cept a teacher can do, to the elevation of the profession itself, and 
thereby to its elevation in the public esteem." — E. Higginson. 

The teacher of the common school has, in so many in- 
stances, been appointed without choice ; so often has he 
been an entire stranger to the work and to the district, or an 
applicant of whom it was only known that he needed the 
place, and would take it at a low rate of wages ; and so oft- 
en his only recommendation has been that he could find no 
other employment, that in many places the question of qual- 
ifications has become almost obsolete. A natural effect has 
been, that the office of teacher has come to be looked upon 
by many as a low and unimportant oflice, and the qualifica- 
tions for it have been thought of little consequence. This 
view of the matter is totally wrong and false. Thousands 
are so situated that they must receive their whole prepara- 
tion for future life at the district school. Here the bias 
which is to shape their course is given. The heart and the 
head, the health of the body and of the mind, will depend, 
in a great degree, upon what is done or what fails to be done 
here. Here the scroll of knowledge is to be unfolded to 
them ; or, if it be not unfolded, their future path will lie in 
darkness. They are here at the period of life w^hen their 
whole nature is in the highest degree susceptible of im- 
pressions, good or bad. They m y be moulded almost like 
A A 



278 QUALITIES. 

clay. They are impressible, impulsive, and full of sympa- 
thy. Everything noble and generous, as well as everything 
base and selfish, in the teacher, may waken an echo in the 
heart of a child. They are creatures of imitation. Every 
quality in the character of the teacher becomes an element 
in forming theirs. Who will dare to say that the character 
of a parent is of little consequence in forming the character 
of a child ? Yet children often receive a far deeper impres- 
sion from the teacher, who is with them several hours in the 
day, than from a father, who may not be with them so many 
hours in a week. Ought we not rather to say that every 
circumstance in the character of a teacher is of the highest 
importance, as it must produce an effect, not upon the five 
or six of a single family, but upon the fifty or hundred of a 
district ■? 

What, then, are the qualities which should form the char- 
acter of the teacher, for his own sake and for the sake of his 
pupils ? 

He should be patient ; otherwise the anxieties and dis- 
couragements of his office will vex him, and soon wear him 
out. The words of instruction have been compared by the 
greatest of Teachers to seed sown in the earth. The 
gTowth of virtue, of truth, and of knowledge, cannot be 
seen. He who has sown the seed must wait days, and 
weeks, and months, and even years, before he can expect 
to see its fniits. Patience is one of the great virtues he 
must inculcate on his pupils. The art which it is an impor- 
tant business of an instructer of a common school to com- 
municate, the art of reading, is perhaps the most difficult of 
all arts. Consider how many things it requires ; how many 
varieties of sound, — ^how many letters, each representing, 
not one, but several sounds, — how many combinations of 
sounds,— how many thousands of words must be made fa- 
miliar, not merely to the eye as representatives of sounds, 
but to the understanding as significant of ideas. Consider, 



PATIEXCE HOPEFULNESS CHEERFULNESS. 279 

too, how volatile and impatient of continued application the 
mind of the child is ; how impatient of restraint is his body ; 
how many times he must be recalled, and recalled kindly, 
to his task, before it can be accomplished. If there is any 
work assigned to man which requires untiring, inexhaust- 
ible patience, it is this. Let it not be said that this is a 
poor and humble virtue. Humble indeed it is, but not 
poor. JMany of the greatest of men, Newton, Pascal, Buf- 
fon, and others, have declared it a principal element of their 
genius ; and so it must be, for it is essential to the accom- 
plishment of every great undertaking. 

To be patient, the teacher must be hopeful. Let him not 
be discouraged that he accomplishes no more. All real 
progress is, by the law of nature, slow. The growth of 
the oak is imperceptible, and it requires a hundred years to 
come to maturity. He who has sown the acorn must re- 
member that it is an oak which is to grow from it. All 
virtue is modest, silent, unobtrusive, hiding itself; and the 
highest Adrtues are most so. Of all tilings, the human char- 
acter is most slowly brought to perfection. We must sow 
the seeds of good principles, and hope for the harvest. " In 
due time we shall reap, if we faint not." 

While we hope, all labour is light. Hopefulness is con- 
tagious. The pupil catches ardour from our hope, and, 
thinking that he can accomplish all things, can. But de- 
spair deadens the energies. It is like the icy sarcar of 
Eastern fables. It blasts whatever it breathes upon. It 
passes over the valley, and the buds are nipped and the 
leaves blackened, and nothing remains but scathed trunks. 
Let him who is prone to despair go away and despair by 
himself, in the field or the workshop. Let him not blight 
youthful hopes, and chill the warm glow of confidence, by 
this death-wind. 

The teacher should be cheerful. Cheerfulness in the 
face of a teacher is sunshine to the child ; and while it gives 



2S0 



QUALITIES. 



play to all the faculties of its possessor, quickens into life 
and healthy action the powers of those around him. It dif- 
fuses happiness in the school ; and if there were no other 
reason for its being a teacher's duty to be cheerful, this 
would be sufficient. For why should not the years of 
childhood be, what the benevolent Father willed them to 
be, happy 1 Is it not desirable that happiness should be- 
come habitual 1 The cheerful worker can do more and bet- ■ 
ter than the sad one ; and the dark cloud that comes over 
a school from the lowering of a gloomy brow, strikes a chill 
not only into the heart, but into the very power of action. 

Cheerfulness should be natural to the teacher ; and who- 
ever has a morose, sullen, and gloomy temper, should seek 
some other employment. It may be answered, perhaps, 
that cheerfulness is not always constant, even to the natu- 
rally cheerful ; that it depends on the health of the body. 
True ; the teacher should therefore study and obey the laws 
of health, that he may not be a source of unhappiness to 
others by his neglect. But of this hereafter. 

The teacher should be generous, unsuspicious, open, 
frank. These excellent and beautiful qualities should be 
cultivated in children. They cannot be well taught by pre- 
cept ; they must be communicated by the sympathy of exam- 
ple. There is a nobleness in the heart of a child which re- 
sponds to the same quality in another. Approach him with 
kind and unsuspecting confidence, and you disarm his cal- 
culating selfishness. You place all that is generous and 
noble ia him on your side. Your openness begets open- 
ness in his breast. I have seen this course tried with en- 
tire success in the management of a large school of boys, 
collected from all the quarters of a great city ; from schools 
in which every variety of government had been exercised, 
from generous sentirnent and sympathy to brutal violence, 
where a word was followed by a blow. To this motley 
collection a yountj teacher addressed himself. He told 



FRANKNESS GENEROSITY — LOVE OF CHILDREN. 281 

them that, though somewhat older than they, he was young 
enough to understand their feelings ; that he should try 
the experiment of trusting to their honour, and should never 
strike a blow, or adopt other harsh measures, until they com- 
pelled him. In so large a number, of course, order must 
exist, and obedience was essential. He should endeavour 
to be reasonable, and should treat them as reasonable be- 
ings. If they would allow him, he would always conduct 
towards them as if they were his younger brothers. He 
believed there was a sentiment of honour and generosity 
among boys as much as among men, and on that he should 
rely. This experiment was continued for nearly two years, 
with a success which established, beyond a doubt, his con- 
fidence in the correctness of the theory on which it was at- 
tempted. 

In a large school there Avill always be some boys in 
whom the feelings of honour are not high. The number 
is not great. It is smaller than is commonly thought ; and 
by appealing to the sentiment of honour, such as it is, the 
almost latent principle will be kindled in many a breast in 
which it had been dormant, and the number of the obtuse 
become constantly smaller. A small minority may be 
safely left to the influence of the public opinion of the 
school. 

The appeal to the generous qualities of children can be 
safely made only by one who has entire confidence in their 
existence and strength, and who has a sympathy and affec- 
tion for children. A teacher, therefore, should be a lover 
of children. This is one of the most essential qualifica- 
tions. He who has it will spontaneously feel such an in- 
terest in children as will enable him to bear with their 
faults, to encourage their efforts, to feel for their griefs, and 
do what he can to make plain their difficulties ; to cheer the 
despondent, and lift up the heart of the timid ; to check, 
without offending, the bold ; to overcome the obstinate by 
A A 2 



2S2 QUALITIES. 

gentleness ; and to repress, without mortifying, the self-con- 
fident. This will make patience easy to Lira, and strip 
confinement of half its irksomeness. 

There is a great difference in this respect among "ndi- 
viduals otherwise equally amifible. One who is vexed uy 
the noise of children, impatient of their slowness, and of- 
fended by their sportiveness, should never go inside of a 
schoolhouse. One who is indifferent to them, or feels little 
interest in them, may persuade himself, by a strong convic- 
tion of duty, to be faithful as a teacher, but he will do as a 
task what might otherwise be a pleasure. The lover of 
children will take delight in the employment. 

The teacher should be kind and benevolent. The great 
lesson of the Gospel is love. How many there are who 
have not yet learned it. The power of kindness is but be- 
ginning to be fully known. No human heart is shut against 
it. The gTeat improvements made in the treatment of pris- 
oners, in recent times, come from the introduction of this 
principle, and are evidences of its power. The heart long 
hardened by severity and suffering, softens and yields when 
it feels itself addressed in the unaffected tones of real kind- 
ness. Can it be that the indurated tenant of a prison is 
more alive to the influence of this benignant principle than 
the innocent, unhardened child ? When we see contrition 
and repentance for crime wrought in the heart of the old 
offender, through the instrumentality of love, shall we dis- 
trust its efficacy on the heart of the young, and delicate, 
and susceptible ? 

A still more remarkable evidence of the force of kindness 
is shown in the treatment of the insane. The truly kind 
man, whose kindness so pervades his character that it 
beams from the eye, irradiates the face, speaks in the 
voice, and controls the movements, has almost imbounded 
power over the will of the insane. Can it be that he should 
have less over the fresh and warm affections of children ? 



KINDNESS — FORGIVENESS — JUSTICE. 283 

The broken current of thought, disturbed, perhaps, by the 
coldness of the world, or by bitter grief, or by passion, is 
brought back to its natural channel, and made to flow pla- 
cidly, under the benign influence of truth and confidence, by 
the ofiices of religion and the irresistible power of kindness. 
Shall the efiect of these motives be less in leading the 
streams of feeling and thought, near their fountain, to flow 
in their appointed courses ? 

A duty of the teacher is to inspire kindness — to form the 
habit of benevolence. Can he impart what he has not? 
Kindness must be his great instrument. By no other can 
he add so much to the happiness of his pupils, or so easily 
control them. Shall he not profit by the lesson which the 
Christian warden of the prison, and the Christian physician 
of the insane, afford ? 

A part of kindness is the forgiveness of injuries. A 
teacher should be of a forgiving spirit. Forgiveness wins 
more than punishment drives. The one appeals to the lofty 
qualities, the other to the grovelling. One forms the heart 
to nobleness, the other tends to harden it. 

He should be just. A child is delicately sensitive to in- 
justice. An instance of it offends him, and does much to 
shut his heart against the author of the injustice. He can 
hardly think him a good man, whatever else he may have to 
recommend him. The teacher should therefore have a 
strong sentiment and a quick perception of justice ; and he 
should endeavour to be habitually and strictly just. This is, 
doubtless, the most difficult part of his duty. It is not easy 
to pronounce justly even in a difference between two ; but 
when the rights of many become involved, the difficulty be- 
comes proportionally greater. He should be severely true 
to his feeling of justice, while he should, at the same time, 
show his pupils how nearly impossible it is for him, without 
the power of looking into their motives, to do exact justice. 
There are some occasions on which it is quite impossible 



284 QUALITIES. 

for him to do justice. When, for example, a single prize is 
offered, and there are, as there usually are, several candi- 
dates with apparently equal claims, — let him then beware of 
unperceived partialities. It is better to avoid such cases. 
Let him refuse to undertake to award a prize which it re- 
quires more than human penetration not to award unjustly. 

The sentiment of justice is so important in the human 
character, its office is so high, and there are so frequent oc- 
casions for its exercise in human life, that a teacher's duty 
cannot be considered well performed unless he takes pains 
to form and cultivate it. Let the faithful teacher look to 
that. If all teachers could be roused to a sense of its im- 
portance, there would be less of injustice in the world. 

In order to be just, the teacher should have equanimity : 
equally removed from indifference and passion. Here' 
again comes in the importance of health ; for ill health will 
disturb, almost inevitably, the even current of feeling on 
which equanimity depends. 

He should be a lover of order ; and, if possible, he should 
have the talent of establishing and preserving it. System 
is essential in a school. It helps all things. It renders 
government easy. It preserves quiet, and good feeling ; it 
saves time. It prevents impatience ; one waits patiently 
for the hour, when the hour is sure to come. It obviates 
confusion ; it prevents injustice. Unless a system of just 
allotment of time, according to the claims of each and of all, 
be fixed and firmly adhered to, there must be some to suffer 
neglect. Once established, such a system has a tendency 
to preserve itself. It requires a talent of order, or some 
substitute for it, to estabUsh such a system. Individuals 
difler very much in this talent. He who has little power to 
establish and preserve order, ought to cease to attempt to 
teach, unless he have extraordinary nualifications to com- 
pensate for its absence. If he have the ta'ant in a moderate 
degree, he may adopt an order of proceeding settled by 



REVERENCE CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 285 

another, and by the help of a clock or watch, carefully ob- 
served, may keep it in operation. 

His highest duty is to teach a reverence for God and for 
Ids laws. He should, therefore, himself be full of rever- 
ence. This cannot be taught by mere words, in abstract 
propositions ; it must be communicated. Words must be 
used, but they must come from the heart, and they can 
come with effect only from a heart deeply imbued with the 
feeling. If he have not this feeling, the teacher ought not 
to attempt to excite it in his pupils ; for it will sound like 
hypocrisy in himself, and there will be danger of his pro- 
ducing hypocrisy in them. Reverence is the foundation of 
the religious sentiment, and it will be better to leave it to 
the teacher of religion than to run the risk of making h}YO- 
crites of his pupils, or of debasing himself by the wretched 
cant of hypocrisy ; for, while the genuine feeling is the 
highest and holiest of the human breast, the affectation of it 
is the basest. 

He should be conscientious. A most important part of 
the duty of a moral teacher is to awaken the sense of duty. 
But it must exist in his own breast before he can arouse it 
in that of another. He must be conscientious for his own 
sake, for his own peace. Most of his exertions have not 
the visible external rewards which follow earnest and stren- 
uous exertions in almost every other field of labour. Their 
immediate effects are secret, almost imperceptible changes 
in the feelings or habits of a child ; and, however full of 
hope he may Be, he will be liable to be discouraged if he 
have not the conscientious feeling whereby faithful exertion 
carries with it its own reward. The teacher is sometimes 
of no esteem with the world. He must be able to do good 
for its own sake, hoping for nothing in return ; and his 
" great reward" must be in the consciousness of having 
done what he could. 

He should be conscientious for the sake of his pupils. 



286 QUALITIES. 

A quick, clear sense of right and wrong, a resolute purpose 
to do right because it is right, and to avoid wrong because 
it is wrong, is the highest principle that can pervade the 
character of child or man. It is the deep foundation on 
which everything most excellent in the character must rest. 
The love of truth, that most beautiful trait in the human 
character, is but another name for it. We believe that it 
exists, faintly or manifestly, in the elements of every human 
character capable of free agency. But it must be educated. 
Like every other principle, it must be strengthened by ex- 
ercise. It must be appealed to constantly, in every period 
of instruction, by those who have charge of it. The great 
neglect of moral education lies in this point more than in 
any other.* 

Conscientiousness, then, is a great essential in a teacher. 
But it exists in different degrees. The sentiment of duty 
may be high, and yet the power of acting up to it may be 
deficient. A person so constituted may become a good 
teacher, for he will be likely to do his best to improve ; and 
this master principle of our moral nature, if always respect- 
ed, will at last obtain complete ascendency. 

The teacher must be firm. This quality must come in 
to strengthen all the rest. Firmness saves time and pre- 
vents pain. Let it be once understood in a school : " This 
is fixed, after full deliberation, on just grounds ; it cannot be 
yielded ;" and every one submits as he does to necessity. 
The will of a man as unyielding as fate is submitted to as 
if it were another fate. But firmness never need be harsh. 
Gentleness and firmness should be united. The child 
should feel that the resistless hand of a strong man is upon 

* It can hardly be essential to say, except to avoid being misun- 
derstood, that I believe the religious sentiment closely connected 
with conscientiousness. That sentiment naturally expresses itself 
in worship. The conscience must be aided by Him who worketh in 
us to will and to do ; and aid must be asked. 



MORAL QUALITIES IMPORTANT IN A TEACHER. 287 

him, but that it is the hand of a father. This union the 
teacher should constantly endeavour to effect. Firmness is 
often natural. Where it is not so to any considerable de- 
gree, much may be done to gain or strengthen it. If we 
feel that it is kindness to be firm, that it is our interest and 
our duty to be firm, we may be so, though naturally waver- 
ing and irresolute. 

He should have the talent for commanding, and he should 
be able to establish his authority. All the other influences 
he can exert are important, — some of them of the highest 
importance ; but, after all, a school must be reduced to sub- 
mission, and kept in subordination by authority. 

Together with these natural qualifications, the teachei 
should have a strong predilection for the oflUce. He should 
engage in it, not from compulsion and as a last resort, but 
as the most desirable and honourable of employments. 

I have enumerated some of the moral qualities which 
seem to be most important to a teacher for his own sake 
and on account of his pupils. He should be patient, full of 
hope, of a cheerful spirit, generous, a lover of children, full 
of benevolence, just, a lover of order, a reverencer of God 
and his laws, conscientious, firm, with a talent to command. 
To one who is to be a teacher for life, all are essential. 
Yet all cannot often be united in an individual in the highest 
degree, and some may take the place of others. A lover of 
children will be patient, and kind, and full of hope towards 
them, though wanting in these qualities towards others ; and 
a reve/ence for God's laws and the laws of conscience may 
make him firm, and just, and a lover of order. 



2S8 QUALITIES. 



CHAPTER II. 

HEALTH EXERCISE DIET. 

" ' Go to the hills,' said one ; ' remit awhile 
This baneful diligence ; at early mom 
Court the fresh air, explore the heaths and woods ; 

construct 
A calendar of flowers, pluck'd as they blow 
Where health abides, and cheerfulness, and peace.' " 

Wordsworth. 
'• A variety of exercises is necessary to preserve the animal frame 
m vigour and beauty ; and a variety of those occupations which lit- 
erature and science afford, added to a promiscuous intercourse with 
the world, in the habits of conversation and business, is no less ne- 
cessary for the unprovemcnt of the understanding." — Stewart. 

The teacher should have perfect health. It may seem 
almost superfluous to dwell here upon what is admitted to 
be so essential to all persons ; but it becomes necessary, 
from the fact that nearly all those who engage in teaching 
leave other and more active employments to enter upon their 
new calling. By this change, and by the substitution of a 
sedentary life within doors for a life of activity abroad, the 
whole habit of the body is changed, and the health will in- 
evitably suffer, unless precautions be taken which have nev- 
er before been necessary. To all such persons — to all, es- 
pecially, who are entering upon the work of teaching with 
a view of making it their occupation for life, and to that oth- 
er large and important class who are quitting the active life 
of a farmer or mechanic with the purpose of obtaining 
an education for themselves, — a knowledge of the laws of 
health is of the utmost importance, and to such this chapter 
is addressed. I shall speak of these laws briefly, under the 
heads of exercise, air, sleep, food, and dres^. 



EXERCISE. 289 

So intimate is the connexion between the various parts of 
our compound nature, that the faculties of the mind cannot 
be naturally, fully, and effectually exercised without the 
health of the body. And the first law of health is that 
which imposes the necessity of exercise. 

The teacher cannot be well without exercise, and, usual- 
ly, a great deal of it. No other pursuit requires so much, — 
no other is so exhausting to the nerves ; and exercise, air, 
cheerfulness, and sunshine, are necessary to keep them in 
health. Most other pursuits give exercise of body, sunshine, 
and air, in the very performance of the duties that belong to 
them. This shuts us up from all. 

One of the best, as one of the most natural modes of ex- 
ercise, is walking. To give all the good effects of Avhich it 
is susceptible, a walk must be taken either in pleasant com- 
pany, or, if alone, with pleasant thoughts ; or, still better, 
with some agreeable end in view, such as gathering plants, 
or minerals, or observing other natural objects. Many a 
broken constitution has been built up, and many a valuable 
life saved or prolonged, by such a love of some branch of 
natural history as has led to sriatch every opportunity for a 
walk, with the interest of a delightful study, 

" Where living things, and things inanimate, 
Do speak, at Heaven's conunand, to eye and ear." 

The distinguished geologist of Massachusetts, Professor 
Hitchcock, was once, when teacher of a school, reduced to 
so low a state by a disease of the nerves, Avhich took the 
ugly shape of dyspepsy, that he seemed to be hurrying rap- 
idly towards the grave. Fortunately, he became interested 
in mineralog\% and this gave him a strong motive to spend 
all his leisure time in the open air, and to take long circuits 
in every direction. He forgot that he was pursuing health 
in the deeper interest of science ; and thus, aided by some 
other changes in his habits, but not in his pursuits, he grad- 
B B 



290 



QUALITIES. 



ually recovered the perfect health which has enabled him to 
do so much for science and for the honour of his native state. 

2. Riding on horseback is one of the best modes of ex- 
ercise possible for a sedentary person. It leads to an 
erect posture, throws open the chest, gives a fuller breath- 
ing, and exercises the muscles of the arms and upper 
part of the frame. Though in many situations expensive 
in a pecuniary point of view, it is economical in time. I 
have often found it refreshing and invigorating when other 
kinds of exercise were ineffectual. In weakness of the 
digestive organs its efficacy is remarkable. It is essential 
to the beneficial effects of this exercise, that, if it be pur- 
sued in cold weather, the feet be kept perfectly warm. 

3. A garden furnishes many excellent forms of exercise, 
and the numerous labours of a farm would give every vari- 
ety, if the teacher could be in a situation to avail himself of 
them. This is not often the case. When accessible, the 
rake or the pitchfork, moderately used, cannot be too higlrly 
recommended.. A garden is within the reach of most teach- 
ers in the country. It has the advantage of supplying ex- 
ercise suited to every degree of strength, and of being fill- 
ed with objects gratifying to the eye and the taste. The 
head of one of the first literary institutions in New-England 
secures to himself robust and manly health by two or three 
hours' labour every morning in his own garden ; and he has 
the satisfaction, not a slight one, of eating vegetables raised 
by his own hands. The flower-garden and shrubbery com- 
mend themselves to the female teacher. To derive every 
advantage from them, she must be willing to imitate an ex- 
ample often set by the ladies of England, and use the hoe, 
the rake, the pruning-hook, and the grafting-knife with her 
own hands. 

4. Rowing, when practicable, is a most healthful exer- 
cise. It gives play to every muscle and bone of the frame. 
For the manner in which it throws open and exercises the 



EXERCISE. 291 

chest, it has been recommended, with the best effect, in 
pulmonaiy cases. The story is told of two young men of 
Cambridge, England, being brought back to health, from a 
somewhat advanced stage of consumption, by the daily grad- 
ual use of the oar. 

5. When the river is frozen, skating may take the place 
of rowing : and it is an excellent substitute. The teacher 
need never be ashamed of it. He should rather be ashamed 
of the ill health and low spirits it is so Avell adapted to 
dispel. 

6. Driving a chaise or sleigh is a healthful exercise, if 
sufficient precaution be used to guard against the current 
which is always felt, as it is produced by the motion of the 
vehicle, even in the still air. 

7. Sawing and splitting wood form a valuable exercise, 
particularly important for those who have left an active 
course of life for the occupation of teaching. 

Exercise should be taken in the early part of the day. 
Warren Colbum, the author of the arithmetic, whose saga- 
city in regard to common things was as remarkable as his 
genius for numbers, used to say, that half an hour's walk 
before breakfast did him as much good as an hour's after. 
Be an early riser. The air of morning is more bracing 
and invigorating ; the sights, and sounds, and odours of 
morning are more refreshing. A life's experience, spent in 
teaching, declares the morning best. There are doubtless 
those who cannot take exercise early in the morning — who 
are seriously injured by it. They are not many. But 
when any one finds that he is of the number, he must yield, 
and consent to take it at some other hour. 

Exercise must always be taken, if possible, in the open 
air. Air is as essential as exercise, and often, in warm 
weather particularly, more so. They belong together. 
The blood flows not as it should ; it fails to give fresh 
life to the brain, if we breathe not fresh air enough. The 



292 QUALITIES. 

spirits cannot enjoy the serene cheerfulness which the 
teacher needs, if he breathe not fresh air enough. The 
brain cannot perform its functions ; thought cannot be quick, 
vigorous, and heahhy, without ample supplies of air. Much 
of the right moral tone, of habitual kindliness and thankful 
reverence, depends on the air of heaven. 

Exercise must be taken in the light, and, if it may be, in 
the sunshine. Who has not felt the benignant influence of 
sunshine ! The sun's light seems almost as essential to our 
well-being as his heat, or the air we breathe. It has a 
great effect on the nerves. A distinguished physician, of 
great experience, Dr. J. C Warren, of Boston, tells me that 
he almost uniformly finds diseases that affect the nerves 
exasperated by the darkness of night, and mitigated by the 
coming on of day. All plants growing in the air^ lose their 
strength and colour when excluded from light. So, in a 
great degree, does man. They lose their fine and delicate 
qualities, and the preciousness of their juices. Man loses 
the glow of his spirits, and the warmth and natural play of 
his finer feelings. The sunshine of the breast is something- 
more than a metaphor. 

" A little rule, a little sway, 
A sunbeam in a winter's day, 
Is all the proud and mighty have 
Between the cradle and the grave." 

Let the teacher, who often has too much of the first, 
take care to get his portion of the last. 

Next to air and light, water is the most abundant element 
in nature. It can hardly be requisite to enjoin upon the 
teacher the freest use of it. The most scrupulous cleanli- 
ness is necessary, not only on his own account, but thafhe 
may be able always to insist upon it, with autliority, in his 
pupils. The healthy state of the nerves, and of the func- 
tion of digestion, depends in so gi"eat a degree on the clean- 
liness of the sldn, that its importance can hardly be over- 



SLEEP. 293 

stated. Most diseases of the skin may be healed or avoided 
by the faithful application of soap and water, or of water 
alone, if enough be used, and often enough. Thence, prob- 
ably, the wisdom of Oriental philosophers gaA'e to the duty 
of frequent ablution the force of religious sanction. 

Sleep. No more fatal mistake in regard to his constitu- 
tion can be made by a young person given to study, than 
that of supposing that Nature can be cheated of the sleep 
necessary to restore its exhausted, or strengthen its weaken- 
ed powers. From six to eight hours of sleep are indispen- 
sable ; and, with young persons, oftener eight or more, than 
six. It is essential to the heahh of the body, and still 
more to that of the mind. It acts directly on the nervous 
system ; and irritability, or what is called nervousness, is 
the consequence of its loss. This, bad in any person, is 
worse in the teacher than in any one else. It is an unfail- 
ing source of unhappiness to himself and to all his school. 
He would be unwise to subject himself to the consequences 
of loss of sleep ; he has no right to subject others. The 
long-continued loss of sleep in early life inflicts a wound 
upon the constitution from which it never fully recovers. 
I knew two young men, Avho, in the early part of their 
college life, when they were about the age of seventeen, 
living together, agreed to restrict themselves to four hours' 
sleep each night. They were ardent in the pursuit of knowl- 
edge, and ambitious of being scholars, and had been persua- 
ded, by reading Lord Teig-nmouth's Life of Sir Wm. Jones, 
that to sleep more than four hours was to be less than 
men. They resolutely tried the experiment for a term of 
thirteen weeks. Both had previously enjoyed excellent 
health, and been blessed with a strong constitution. Im- 
mediately after, one was obliged to leave college for nearly 
six months, to recover from an attack on his lungs, and, after 
he again resumed his studies, Avas afflicted for many years 
with weakness of the eyes. He often says that he feels, to 
B B 2 



294: 



QUALITIES. 



this day, the effect of this violation of the laws of his con- 
stitution. The other was, for many years after, subject to 
a painful nervous complaint, and he has never enjoyed per- 
fect health since. The offence was committed nearly thir- 
ty years ago. 

Each person must determine for himself what number of 
hours of sleep is necessary to him. This varies not only 
with different individuals, but at different seasons of the 
year, and with different states of health. The rule given 
for the management of children, that they should go to bed 
early enough to wake of themselves at a suitable hour in 
the morning, may be taken as a useful one at any period 
of life. It is well to be an early sleeper as well as an ear- 
ly riser. 

Diet. To no person is an attention to diet more impor- 
tant than to a teacher. For his own guidance, and that he 
may be able to give proper instruction in regard to this sub- 
ject to his pupils, the conclusions of experience, or what 
Ave may consider the laws of diet, should be familiar to him. 
Some of these are the following : 

1 . Food should be simple ; not of too little nor of too 
great variety. The structure of the teeth, resembling at 
once those of animals that naturally subsist on flesh, and 
of animals that take only vegetable food, and the character 
and length of the digestive organs, holding a medium between 
the average of these two classes, indicate that a variety of 
food, animal and vegetable, is natural to man, and in most 
cases, probably, necessary. The tendency in most parts 
of this country, from the great abundance of the necessaries 
of life, is to go to excess in the consumption of food, par-f 
ticularly of animal food. The striking evils of this course 
have led many to the opposite extreme — to renounce meats 
entirely. Experience of the evils of this course, also, has 
in most places brought men back to the wise and safe me- 
dium. No person needs to be more careful in regard to 



DIET. 295 

the quality and nature of his food than the teacher, as 
his exchision from air for a great part of the day leaves him 
in an unfit condition to digest unwholesome food ; while the 
constant use of his lungs renders his appetite unnaturally 
great, or destroys it altogether. Animal food seems to be ne- 
cessary, but not in great quantities, nor oftener, usually, than 
once a day. The natives of the highest northern latitudes 
subsist almost entirely on gross animal food, which they take 
in great quantities without injury. Those within the tropica 
may live exclusively on rice or other vegetable food. The 
truth seems to be, that a large amount of food, of the mosi 
nutritious kind, is required, in very cold regions, to keep 
up the supply of vital heat. In proportion as the climate 
is warmer, the demand for food, on this account, is less. 
This fact would suggest a difference of food at different 
seasons of the year. In winter it should be nourishing, 
and may be abundant ; in summer, less nutritious, less oi 
animal origin, and in more moderate quantity. 

2. Food should be taken at sufficiently distant intervals. 
The excellent habits which prevail in most parts of the in- 
terior of the countrv^, of breakfasting early, dining not far 
from noon, and supping in the beginning of the evening, 
make particular rules in relation to this point unnecessary. 
The operation of digestion is not completed, ordinarily, in 
less than four hours. Food should not be taken at shorter 
intervals than this, and intervals of five or six hours are bet- 
ter, as they leave the stomach some time to rest. 

3. It should be taken in moderate quantity. In the ac- 
tivity of ommon life, excess is less to be dreadeJ than with 
the sedentaiy habits and wearying pursuits of a teacher. 
The body which has been tasked by many hours of severe 
labor at the anvil or the plough, needs to have its energies 
repaired by large supplies of nourishing food. The exhaus- 
tion of teaching is that of the nervous power, and would 
seem to call rather for hours of quiet, and ireedom from 



296 QUALITIES. 

care, with cheerful conversation, and the refreshment of 
air and gentle exercise. Probably all the kinds of food in 
general use are wholesome when partaken of moderately. 
Those Avho, from choice or compulsion, pass from an active 
to a sedentary life, should, at the same time, restrict them- 
selves to one half their accustomed quantity of food. 

4. As a general rule, fat should be avoided. It is a gross 
custom of some parts of the country, the having food pre- 
pared by cooking with great quantities of fat. None but a 
person who uses a great deal of most active exercise, or is 
much exposed to cold, can long bear it with impunity. If 
taken, fat in a solid form is less injurious than liquid fat. 

5. Fruit may be eaten with the recollection of the prov- 
erb of fruit-producing countries : " It is gold in the morning, 
silver at noon, lead at night." Ripe fruit, in its season, is 
wholesome, and preferable, for a person of sedentary habits, 
to more nourishing and exciting food. But it should be a 
substitute for other food, not an addition. A bad practice, 
common in some places, of eating fruit, especially the in- 
digestible dried fruits, raisins, and nuts, in the evening, 
should be avoided by the teacher. He must have quiet and 
uninterrupted sleep, and early hours, to be patient, gentle, 
and cheerful in school. 

6. The drink of a sedentary person should be chiefly wa- 
ter, and that in small quantities, and only at meals. The in- 
telligent Arab of the desert drinks not during the heat of the 
day. He sees that watering a plant in the sunshine makes 
it wither ; and he feels, in himself, an analogous effect from 
the use of water. There are few lessons in regard to diet 
so important to be inculcated as this : " Drink not betw'een 
meals." The introduction of tea and coffee has justly been 
considered as one of the great advances in the art of living 
of modern times, and one cause, among others, of the in- 
crease in the duration of life. They cheer but not inebri- 
ate, and may be taken moderately as long as no ill effect 



DRESS — CHEERFULNESS. 297 

is perceived from their use. They are to be preferred to 
all other drinks except water, and especially to heavy and 
nourishing drinks. 

7. The last rule to be observed is, that no unnecessary 
exertion of mind or body should be used immediately after 
a meal. If a walk must be taken, it should rather be a 
leisurely stroll than a hurried walk. 

The teacher should be no sloven. He should dress well, 
not over nicely, not extravagantly ; neatly, for neatness he 
must teach by example as well as by precept ; and warmly, 
for so many hours of the day shut in a warm room will 
make him unusually sensitive to cold. The golden rule of 
health should never be forgotten : " Keep the head cool, the 
feet Avarm, the body free." The dress of the feet is particu- 
larly important. Coldness or dampness of the feet causes 
headache, weakness and inflammation of the eyes, coughs, 
consumptions, sometimes fevers. A headache is often cured 
by sitting with the feet long near a fire. Keeping the feet 
warm and dry alleviates the common affections of the eyes, 
repels a coming fever, prevents or quiets coughs, and serves 
as one of the surest safegTiards against consumption. Many 
of our most sensible physicians trace the prevalence of con- 
sumption in the Northern States, not to our climate, but to 
the almost muversal custom of wearing insufScient clothing, 
especially on the feet. 

There is another subject intimately connected with health, 
which has been alluded to, but which ought, from its impor- 
tance, to receive more than a passing remark. It is cheerful- 
ness. This should be one of the ends and measures of 
health. It ought to be considered the natural condition of 
a healthy mind ; he who is not cheerful is not in health. 
If he has not some manifest moral cause of melancholy, 
there must be something wrong in the body, or in the action 
of the powers of the mind. 

A common cause of low spirits in a teacher is anxiety in 



298 QUALITIES. 

regard to the well-doing of his pupils. This he must feel, 
but he must endeavour, as far as possible, to banish it from 
his hours of relaxation. He must leave it behind him when 
he turns from the schoolhouse door. To prevent its haimt- 
ing him, he must seek pleasant society. He must forget it 
among the endearments of home, the cheerful faces and kind 
voices of his friends. This is the best of all resources, and 
happy is the man who has a pleasant home, in the bosom of 
which he may rest from labour and from care. If he be 
among strangers, he must try to find or make friends to sup- 
ply the place of home. He must seek the company of the 
parents and friends of his pupils, not only that he may not be 
oppressed by the loneliness of his situation, but that he may 
better understand the character of his pupils, and the influ- 
ences to which they are subjected. The exercise of the 
social affections is essential to the healthy condition of a 
well-constituted mind. Often he will find good friends and 
pleasant companions among his pupils. Difference of years 
disappears before kindliness of feeling, and sympathy may 
exist between those most remote in age, and pursuit, and 
cultivation. 

A less essential and genial, perhaps, but a surer, because 
a more independent resource, he will find in reading. He 
must be a reader. The constantly recurring lessons will 
exhaust his stock of ideas and illustrations, and he must re- 
new his store by books. And in reading, if he have con- 
siderable freedom of selection, he must seek such books as 
at once instruct and give a cheerful flow to the thoughts. 
Poetry, wit, narrative, eloquence, biography, fiction, philoso- 
phy, devotion — let him choose whatever is suited to the 
mood of the hour. It may seem inconsistent to recommend 
so sedentary a recreation as reading with the sedentary la- 
bours of a school. But the powers of mind employed in 
reading are very different from those that are exercised in 
teaching. Much of the day may be spent in bodily exer- 



READING MUSIC. 299 

cise, and still leave many hours of daylight and night unoc- 
cupied ; and the quiet enjoyment of reading refreshes the 
mind more than absolute rest. The whole mind of the 
teacher should be exercised, each faculty in its appropriate 
way ; and after all the labours of a day, he may find that his 
imagination, his reasoning powers, or those of observation, 
have been but little employed. 

I have already spoken of the study of Natural History. A 
delightful, but a somewhat dangerous recreation, is offered by 
Music ; delightful, as always soothing to the wearied mind, 
but dangerous, because liable to take to itself too much time. 
It would be desirable if every instructer could himself sing 
or play. If he cannot, let him listen to songs or cheerful 
airs from voice or instrument, or to the notes of birds. 

" I'm sick of noise and care, and now mine ear 
Longs for some air of peace." 



300 



B O O K I I. 

STUDIES. 
CHAPTER I. 

THE LAWS OF THE CREATION. 

" The object of the science of education is to render mind tlie fit- 
test possible instrument for discovering, applying, or obeying the 
laws under which God has placed the universe." — Wayland. 

The social position of instructers is not yet everywhere 
what it should be. But already many of the best and wi- 
sest men see that a higher place should be given them, and 
the public are beginning to be prepared to render them due 
honour. Already thoughtful men see what vast influence 
is to be exercised, what vast good is to be done, by highly 
gifted, thoroughly qualified, well educated, and faithful 
teachers. It will depend on themselves to deserve and 
win the place they desire. The world will grant it Avhen 
it is deserved. Every teacher may do something to remove 
prejudices, where they exist, against teachers, and to gain 
for them, as a body, a higher regard, and a nearer place in 
the affections of the community. Let him form for him- 
self such a character as the guide of the young should have ; 
let him make such acquisitions in science and letters as 
elevate the mind and polish the manners ; let him gain the 
knowledge which is power, and he needs not claim, for he 
will receive vmclaimed, honour from the rising and the risen 
generation. 

Let him be just, generous, sincere, honourable, kind, char- 
itable, modest, respecting himself and respecting others, 
fearing God and reverencing his laws, a model of the vir- 



THE LAWS OP THE CREATION. 301 

tues that adorn a man, and he needs not fear that he shall 
fail of even the earthly reward of these virtues. They are 
of too lugh a chfiracter to be estimated by external meas- 
ures, and their true reward is within. Still they meet a 
sympathy in the heart of others, and procure genuine re- 
spect for their possessor. But these qualities of the char 
acter, though the best and most indispensable, are not all 
tliat are required. The instructer must be intelligent, culti- 
vated, well-informed. 

The information he shoidd possess must be, first, what 
will qualify him for his office of instructer, and, secondly, 
■what he must have as a citizen and a man. If he attain 
all that belongs to the first, he will not have many deficien- 
cies to make up in regard to the second. 

The instructor should be the interpreter of the laws of 
the creation. The child is born into the world ignorant of 
them all ; yet they are the laws by which every part of his 
own nature, and his use of all the powers of external nature, 
are controlled. He must know them, — the more perfectly 
and the earlier the better. The more fully qualified the 
teacher is to impart a knowledge of these laws, the better 
instructer he must be. 

The first of these laws which attract the attention, inas- 
much as they fall almost entirely within the dominion of 
the senses, are the properties of the objects about us. A 
great part of infancy is spent, very happily, in learning 
these properties, by the incessant experiments which all 
children delight to make. They thus discover the hard- 
ness, strength, shape, colour, size, weight, and other prop- 
erties of all the common objects ; their appearances at dif- 
ferent distances ; their relation to each other ; and, what is 
still more important to them, their relation to themselves, 
and some of their uses. And in these observations and ex- 
periments, while learning to use their limbs, they exercise 
their senses, and those powers of the mind by which ihey 
C c 



302 STUDIES. 

observe and compare. Most, perhaps all of the happiness of 
infancy and early childhood, — and whoever looks upon cliil- 
dren must see how much they enjoy, how happy they are, 
— is doubtless derived from this instinctive exercise of the 
infant faculties. 1 f the art of instruction were what it might 
be, and teachers had the qualifications which they ought to 
have, this happy natural progress in knowledge and the de- 
velopment of the faculties would know no interruption. 

This period in the education of a child, which we may 
call the period of nature's education, is managed so much 
better, usually, than any future part, that we might be tempted 
not to interfere with it, but to observe and admire, and to 
learn thence how to conduct in the periods that come after. 
But, even here, art and reason might step in, and improve 
upon those beautiful processes, not by changing them, but 
by carrying out more fully the principles indicated by na- 
ture. This I shall hereafter endeavour to show. 

The next laws which draw the attention of the child are 
those of the elements, light, heat, air, water, and others. 
Many of these escape the immediate cognizance of his 
senses, and are those in regard to which he needs the aid 
of a well-informed instructer. Listen to a child's ques- 
tions, and you find him very early inquisitive as to the causes 
acting upon him. The same curiosity which had been busy 
upon objects, extends itself to influences. Why is it so hot 1 
Why do the buds begin to swell ? Why do the birds come 
back, and begin to sing ? What makes the rain ? See the 
smoke, how it goes up into the sky ; what makes it go up 1 
These, and a thousand other questions, show that he is 
looking into causes. Now is the ofiice of the teacher called 
in requisition ; and to be able to answer these questions, he 
must possess himself of what is known of these elements. 
This kind of kno\A'ledge is contained in books upon Chemis- 
try, Natural Philosophy, Natural History, and Meteorology ; 
and with such must the individual, who aspires to be a use- 



CHEMISTRY NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 303 

ful and successful teacher of children in their early years, 
be familiar. The most important of these are certain parts 
of Chemistry and Natural History. That part of the former 
which relates to the nature and composition of the atmo- 
sphere is essential. How many children have suffered, and 
now suffer, from ignorance on the part of their teachers, of 
the simple truth, that air is gradually rendered poisonous by 
breathing, and that a supply of fresh air is constantly neces- 
sary in a room which many persons occupy. We every 
year read accounts of lives having been destroyed by the 
fumes of charcoal, which the knowledge of the fact that 
anything burning in the air rapidly consumes its vital por- 
tion, or that the gas formed by burning charcoal is destruct- 
ive to life, would have saved. Many pupils will never have 
any means of learning these and similar facts but from the 
teacher of a public school. Such elementary truths should, 
therefore, be known to every teacher. 

The teacher of the higher schools, or of the upper class- 
es, ought to have a much fuller knowledge of Chemistry. 
He will then be able, in conversation with his pupils, to 
communicate innumerable facts of the highest practical val- 
ue. To the future farmer he may give hints as to the part 
that clay, limestone, animaf manure, peat, and even sand, act 
in the constitution of soils, which will lead him to investi- 
gate for himself, and thus to be able to render his farm more 
productive. To the future smith he may, by observations 
on the qualities of the different metals, impart a desire to in- 
form himself, which will make him a better smith than he 
otherwise would have become. All the properties of acids 
and alkalies, of their action on each other and on metals, of 
the salts, harmless, useful, or poisonous, that are formed of 
them, have endless uses in the daily economy of common 
life, within doors and without, which every child, male and 
female, will be better for knowing, and will delight to learn. 
Only let the teacher be so familiar in his knowledge of 



304 STUDIES. 

these truths that he can introduce them naturally and intel- 
ligibly, and they will always interest. 

So of the principles of Natural Philosophy. All men who 
are engaged in the active pursuits of labour or business, 
have occasion to use some forms of the mechanical powers. 
Thousands have no other opportunities of getting acquaint- 
ance with their principles than those furnished by the com- 
mon schools. In most of these schools Natural Philosophy 
forms no part of the regular course of instruction. What 
incalculable good may an intelligent teacher be the means 
of doing, who shall communicate sufficient knowledge of the 
leading principles of Mechanics to make his pupil long for 
more, and induce him to get it when he can 1 

The economical use of materials in building, with the abil- 
ity to select such forms as give the greatest strength in the 
least space and with the least weight, is an interesting appli- 
cation of Mechanics of great practical value. Many persons 
have occasion to build who have no means of studying books 
on the higher parts of carpentry. To such it will be an 
advantage even to know that there is such a thing as a sci- 
ence that treats of the form and strength of materials ; and 
a few suggestions might set an ingenious person upon a 
course of thought which would lead him to many valuable 
practical conclusions. 

Every traveller ought to know something of the construc- 
tion of the steam-engine, which is doing such Avonders for 
the world. Should not a teacher endeavour to know enough 
of the principles of Chemistry and of Pneumatics to give 
some idea of its structure and action? Enough, at least, to 
point out to an inquisitive pupil what studies he must pursue 
to find them out for himself? 

There are no subjects of greater interest to children, of 
botli sexes and of all ages, than the nature, habits, and uses 
of the animal creation. Humanity, as well as agriculture 
and the other arts, would be advanced by a general diffu» 



NATURAL H1S7CRV. 305 

eion of knowledge upon these subjects. It will be sufficient 
to give a few instances. It is not uncommon to see pools 
or vessels of water allowed to remain stagnant in the vi- 
cinity of houses and of villages. These are usually full 
of animal and vegetable substances in a state of partial de- 
cay. Their ofTensiveness to the senses is borne with, be- 
cause it is thought that this is the extent of the evil. Would 
they continue to deform the prospect if it were universally 
known that from the surface of stagnant water rise, in the 
warm season, miasmata tliat poison the air, and sometimes 
generate fever ? and that these same pools give birth to in- 
numerable insects, particularly moschetoes, greater pests to 
man than even disease ? .The same might be said of the 
low grounds on which, in the beginning of summer, water 
is allowed to stand, but which could be easily drained and 
made healthy. 

Since the times of the ancients, or a few years in the early 
lives of our forefathers, insects are the only dangerous and 
really troublesome class of animals with which men have to 
contend. Most of the insect tribes are incredibly prolific, 
so that, if not checked, they would increase to such a de- 
gree that there would be no harvest for man to reap, no 
vegetables to gather, no trees to take shelter under. They, 
are kept in check, not by man, for he could do comparatively 
nothing against them directly, but by the allies of man, the 
birds, and the reptiles, and some of the smaller quadrupeds. 
There are many species of birds Avhose aid is essential to 
our subsistence, against whom Ave, ignorantly or perversely, 
make war, as if they were om- enemies. The robin, the 
blackbird, the numerous tribes of warblers which make the 
woods vocal with their songs, and multitudes of other birds, 
beautiful, melodious, innocent, spend their lives in our ser- 
vice, in doing what we, without their aid, can by no possi- 
bility do, and are, notwithstanding, but too often sacrificed 
in the cruel and thoughtless sports of boys, or the mistaken 
C c 2 



306 STUDIES. 

precautions of men. Wilson computes that a single pair of 
redwinged blackbirds consume, in a single season of four 
months, more than twelve thousand grubs.* Each of these 
grubs would have become a perfect insect, and each, on an 
average, would have produced hundreds of young. Let 
any one consider how much good is thus done by a single 
pair of harmless birds, and that there are perhaps a million 
of pairs in the State of New- York every summer, and as 
many more of each of several other kinds of birds, all 
equally devoted to the service of man, and he will form 
some conception of the extent of their services, and of the 
folly of exterminating them. In this instance, the humanity 
which would spare them is at. the same time the wisest 
policy. 

A great portion of the children at all the public schools 
of the interior are destined to spend their lives on farms. 
These schools are their only places of education. Should 
not the instructer be qualified to give them some intimation 
of the kind of knowledge which this mode of life requires ; 
of the nature of soils ; of the animals they are to employ ; 
of the plants and trees by which they are surrounded ? 
Should he not know something of the science which enters 
into every process that is carried on upon a farm, from the 
making of butter and cheese to the making of soap and the 
preparation of compost, and of that which explains the mo- 
tion of the sap in the trees, and vi^ould teach to find medi- 
cines in the fields, and the material for the supply of many 
of the arts in the woods ? The instructer should be an in- 
telligent friend as welL as a faithful teacher. How much 
might he add to his useful influence by being able to point 
out in the bark .of the cherry-tree a substitute for the gum 
quinia of Peru, or in the bark of a sumach or oak a substi- 
tute for dyes imported from distant parts of the world. 

The great study of the teacher must be Human Physiolo- 

* Peabody's Report on the Birds of Massachusetts, p. 278. 



PHYSIOLOGV. 307 

gy. This treats of the laws of the human body, and in 
some measure, consequently, of those of the mind ; for so 
intimately are they connected, that the health and groAvth of 
the one depend, in a great degree, on the health of the other. 
There is no part of physiology of which a teacher should 
be entirely ignorant ; but the portions Avith which he is 
more immediately concerned are those that treat of respira- 
tion, the circulation, digestion, the nervous system, and the 
functions of the skin. 

Respiration is the process of breathing, by which air is 
alternately taken into and thrown out of the lungs. With- 
out some knowledge of the extent of the cavity which is 
thus filled and emptied at every breath, and of the life-giv- 
ing influence of pure air upon the blood, and thence upon 
the whole system, the teacher cannot be aware, as he ought, 
of the importance to his pupils of a position while at study, 
and of exercises in play, Avhich shall expand and keep open 
the cavity of the chest, or of the vital necessity of a con- 
stant supply of fresh air. Neither can he, without this 
knowledge, be sufficiently awake to the danger of compres- 
sion upon the chest, during the early years of each sex, 
from girdles, corsets, or any other unnatural articles of dress 
or fashion. This is one of the points at which the enemy 
consumption so often enters. 

Not less important is some knowledge of the formation 
and circulation of the blood. This fluid, formed from the 
food taken into the stomach, and thus affected by the nature 
of the food, is carried into the heart, thence thrown into the 
lungs, where it is exposed to the action of air, thence car- 
ried back to the heart, which, like a central engine, throw^s 
it, through the blood-vessels, into every part of the body. 
Unless sufficiently supplied with air in the lungs, it does 
not carry an active and vital energy to the brain or to the 
limbs. A luiowledge of this simple fact would have saved 
thousands of teachers from days of weariness and exhaus- 
tion, of low spirits and ill-temper : how many more than 



308 STUDIES. 

thousands of children from invohintary inattention, from 
stupidity, from habits of indifference and indolence, and 
from the punishments, immediate and remQ,te, which all 
these bring down upon them. When a schoolroom is full 
of bad air, the lungs cannot perform their office. The brain, 
wanting the stimulus of healthy blood from the heart and 
lungs, becomes torpid. The child cannot command his 
attention ; he cannot think ; oftentimes he ca/mot avoid 
falling asleep. The master, himself oppressed by the same 
cause, and driven almost to distraction by what seems the 
iiopeless stupidity or brutal obstinacy of his pupils, suffers 
bitterly himself, and visits heavily upon them the conse- 
iiuence of his own ignorance of this law of life. Imagine 
what sufferings generations of the occupants of schools have 
endured from i^.s not being known that an abundant supply 
of pure air is necessary to the healthy action of the brain. 

The nervous system consists of the brain, encased in the 
scull, and filling the head; the spinal marrow, occupying 
ihe cavity of the; back bone or spine ; and the nerves, which 
are delicate white threads proceeding from the brain or 
from the spinal marrow to every part of the body. It is by 
means of the nerves that sensations are conveyed from each 
of the organs of sense to the brain ; and it is by their means 
that the will ads on the several limbs. If one of the nerves 
of the arm be cut through, all power over that arm is lost. 
If another be severed, sensation ceases to pass from the 
arm to the mind. The health of the nervous system de- 
pends upon the health of the brain, and indirectly upon 
whatever affects the general health of the body, particularly 
upon the supply of pure air. Thence it is that no class of 
persons are so liable to nervous diseases as those who, with 
sedentary habits, make great use of the brain in thought or 
study, and little use of the body, in active exercise, in the 
open air. It therefore behooves all sedentary, studious per- 
sons, and especially teachers, to make themselves familiar 



PHYSIOLOGY. 309 

• 

With what concerns the healthy condition of (he organ of 
thought, the centre and source of the facuhies which it is 
one important part of their office to educate. The brain is 
immediately connected, by nerves, with the stomach, and 
its healthy condition depends upon it in a very great de- 
gree. It is obvious, then, how important it is to be ac- 
quainted with the structure and character of the stomacli 
and digestive apparatus. It is not my purpose to dwell 
upon this extensive subject. I wish only to say enough to 
show to such teachers as have not given it especial atten- 
tion, how intimately it is connected with their calling, that 
they may be induced to look for full information to those 
authors who have treated upon it at large. 

In regard to the office which the teeth perform in the 
preparation of food for digestion, by chewing or mastica- 
tion, it is sufficient to say that it is essential to this process 
that it should be performed slowly enough to allow the food 
to be completely mingled with saliva. The too common 
practice of taking a large quantity of food into the mouth at 
once, and swallowing it after very slight and hurried mas- 
tication, is as injurious to health as it is offensive to good 
taste and good manners. 

The principal offices performed by the skin, besides that 
of shielding and protecting every part of the surface, are, 
1st, serving as a means of throwing off from the system 
that portion of its substance which has ceased to be of use, 
and, 2d, keeping a uniformity of temperature. 

Every part of the body is in a state of constant renova- 
tion and decay. In every stage of life, and especially du- 
ring the period of growth, the particles, of which ever}' 
part is made up, arc removed, and brought, by vessels de- 
signed for that purpose, to the surface of the skin, through 
the innumerable pores by which it is penetrated. From 
twenty to thirty, or even forty ounces of matter, are thus 
thrown out of the system in the course of every twenty- 



310 STUDIES, 

• 

four hours. When the skin is clean and in a healthy 
state, these particles are thrown from its surface by what 
we call the insensible perspiration. They are thrown, min- 
gled with an invisible vapour, into the air by Avhich the body 
is surrounded, contaminating it, and thus giving an addi- 
tional reason why there should be a constant supply of puns 
fresh air. A portion of them, however, is deposited on the 
surface, from which they must be daily removed by the ap- 
plication of water. If allowed to accumulate, they soon 
close the pores, stop or impede the perspiration, and cause 
various diseases of the skin. The eruptions so often seen 
on the skin of children allowed to be habitually dirty, may 
be usually traced to this source. This is a common, but 
it is not the worst effect. The waste and useless parti- 
cles of old and dead matter, of which the body should be 
rid, being forced to remain within it, accumidate, and act 
upon it as foreign and poisonous substances, finally produ- 
cing, when carried to excess, disorder and disease, in the 
various oppressive and horrid forms of headaches, con- 
sumption, dysentery, and fever. The simple and effectual 
preventive of these effects is cleanliness, co-operating with 
the sensible perspiration produced by active and continued 
exercise. 

Another office of the skin is to regulate the temperature 
of the body. When the body is exposed to unusuaJ heat, 
an oppressive, burning sensation is first experienced. This 
seems to excite to action vessels of the skin, which moist- 
, en the surface with the sensible perspiration or sweat, 
whose evaporation immediately produces an agreeable sen- 
sation of coolness. In health, this operation takes place 
whenever it is necessary. By cold the skin is contracted, 
perspiration checked, and a portion of the animal heat kept 
in. When excessive, cold must be guarded against by ex- 
ercise, clothing, and artificial heat. These we have at our 
command ; the remedy for the effects of extreme heat is 



NATURAL LAWS. 311 

provided by the beneficence of our constitution. A sudden 
check of the perspiration, sensible or insensible, by a cur- 
rent of cold air, by dampness, or by sudden cessation from 
exercise in a cold place, may be, and often is, productive 
of disease in a milder or more aggravated form.* 



CHAPTER II. 



THE NATURAL LAWS. 



" All the happiness of man is derived from discovering, applying, 
or obeying the laws of his Creator, and all his misery is the result 
of ignorance or disobedience." — Wayland. 

The object of education, in its highest sense, is to draw 
out, naturally and fully, every faculty of the body, mind, and 
soul.t To be able to do this, or to do anything towards it, 
the teacher must know what are the faculties, and what are 
the laws of their action. A universal law, and one which 
applies equally to.|he physical, intellectual, and moral na- 
ture, is this : Every power is improved by exercise. This is 
the key to the teacher's duty. 

Illustrations of the truth of this law are presented by the 
known effects of exercise on the limbs and muscles of the 
body. The bones and muscles in the arm of a blacksmith 

* The whole object of these paragraphs is to show hovi' indispen- 
sable to a teacher is some knowledge of the systems and ftmctions 
to which I have adverted. For satisfactory infonnation upon these 
subjects, I must refer to the excellent work of Andrew Combe on 
HeaUh and Mental Education, which forms the 71st volume of the 
Family Library, and to the work of Dr. Hayvvard on Physiology. 
These two work* should be studied in connexion, as they occupy 
different portions of the ground. 

t It has been well described, " the harmonious devolopnient oi" 
every power for thought, action, duty, and happiness." 



312 STUDIES. 

acquire strength and firmness which give to his grasp a 
force almost equal to that of his own vice. A similar effect 
is produced on the bones and muscles of the person who 
spends many hours every day in swift walking. So a weak 
voice may be gradually strengthened by moderate daily ex- 
erci?.e in speaking. This is an important fact to the teach- 
er. Though his voice may have little strength at first, 
daily practice, with a force constantly but very gradually 
increased, will at last enable him to fill without difficulty 
the largest schoolroom, and to continue talking for a long 
time at once. All the properties of the voice may be im- 
proved by cultivation. An indistinct utterance maybe con- 
verted into the fullest and clearest articulation. A clownish 
and provincial accent may give place to beautiful and grace- 
ful pronunciation. 

Delicacy and perfection, as well as strength, are also 
giten by exercise. This is in no instance more remark- 
able than in that of the blind, who acquire, from necessity, 
a nicety of touch, inconceivable to one who has the use of 
his eyes. The effect of exercise upon the power of vision 
is exemplified in the case of the sailor, who, constantly ex- 
ercising his eyes upon distant objects, reads the name of 
a ship at a distance at which a landsman can hardly see 
that there is a name to be read. 

What is thus universally true of all the senses and facul- 
ties of the body, is no less so of the powers of the mind. 
This law, indeed, is the foundation of the theory of educa- 
tion. It is by exercise that all the faculties are improved. 
Address the love of knowledge, — that curiosity which is in- 
stinctive in every mind, — and you increase it. Tell an in- 
teresting story, or communicate facts which he can compre- 
hend, to a child, every day for months, and you awaken and 
increase his desire for similar facts and his'poAver of com- 
prehending them. The perceptions are quickened, the 
power of observation is sharpened, the memory made ready 



NATURAL LAWS. 313 

and tenacious, the reason strengthened, the comprehension 
enlarged, the judgment matured, the taste corrected, by a 
process precisely similar to that by which the external 
senses are carried to their perfection. This is mental ed- 
ucation. Must not the teacher know what these powers 
are, and what are the means by which they are to be train- 
ed ? To dwell for a moment upon a single faculty. It be- 
comes of the greatest importance to the teacher to cultivate 
the power of language. Much of his success must depend 
upon his skill in the use of words ; not mere sounds, but 
words as the clothing of thought. If he exercise liimself 
carefully in the use of language, in expressing himself upon 
all subjects and on all occasions, he will gradually, even if 
he have but moderate natural powers of expression, become 
fluent, clear, and impressive. It is a long process, but the 
object to be attained is worth all we can do to attain it. 

The effects of use, of constant exercise, upon the devel- 
opment of the moral powers, are not less striking nor less 
certain than on those of the intellect or the body. This 
momentous part of a teacher's duty has been signally, sadly 
neglected. 

Just as the memory is improved by cultivating it, so also 
are the animal propensities. So, for example, is the dis- 
position to quarrel. If you excite this propensity often, 
you increase its violence. A violent child is not to be con- 
quered and reformed by violence — that only makes him still 
more violent — but by gentleness' and kindness. A propen- 
sity to hate is strengthened by exercise. Whatever is said 
or done to increase the feeling towards an individual, in- 
creases the power of the general habit. An object of affec- 
tion must be substituted, in order to change the habit. Love 
must be introduced into its place. This shows what course 
is to be taken with a child of an unamiable character. 
Scolding should be entirely avoided; it only exasperates 
the unamiable feeling. We must not hate such a child, 
D D 



314 STUDIES. 

If we do, the whole force of our example will be thrown on 
the side of his evil feelings. We must love him, and, fol- 
lowing the golden rule, overcome his evil with our good. 
Really love him, and kindness will grow in his heart in an- 
swering sympathy to the kindness in ours. 

Again, we must take care to exercise the principle 
which we wish to strengthen. The love of knowledge 
is not cherished by an appeal to the love of distinction, but 
only the love of distinction. Let a conscientious person 
daily and earnestly address the conscience of a child ; he 
soon awakens it to action, and it becomes more and more 
active the more it is called to act. A duty is to be per- 
formed because it is right. Let that ground be taken and 
maintained, and the habit of acting from a sense of right 
Avill be constantly strengthened, till it is at last firmly estab- 
lished. But to prove that the performance of a duty will 
bring advantages, is to address a selfish principle. The 
habit of doing right may indeed thereby be formed, but, at 
the same time, the habit of doing it from an imperfect mo- 
tive. To discourse upon morals is not necessarily to teach 
morality. The discourse may be addressed to the under- 
standing, and not to the conscience ; and if so, it will be the 
understanding, and not the conscience, which will be affected 
and exercised. Moral education consists in leading one to 
act from conscientious motives. So the truth should be told 
because it is the truth, and because its obligation is declared 
to be sacred by the conscience as well as by the Scriptures. 
It is, indeed, better to tell the truth for the reason that it is 
expedient and good policy to tell the truth, than not to tell it 
at all. But this is not making it a duty, but a part of world- 
ly prudence. It is not exercising the conscience, but a far 
lower part of our nature. It is not enough to establish the 
habit of doing right ; the essential thing is to establish the 
habit of acting only from the highest motives, of doing right 
from principle and conscience. 



NATURAL LAWS. 315 

This most important part of a teacher's duty needs at- 
tention at every stage of the pupil's progress. Children 
are capable of acting from conscientious motiA'es at a very 
early age. The sense of right begins to show itself as 
soon as language begins to be used. The best and most 
intelligible argument against falsehood, at any age, is, It is 
icrong. This a child can understand and feel, and no lan- 
guage or reasoning of a philosopher can add any force to 
it. So of all other vices and faults. The best argument 
against them is to show that they are wrong. The teacher 
should therefore study to acquire clear conceptions of right 
and wrong himself, and the power of expressing his concep- 
tions in simple and forcible language. 



CHAPTER III. 

INDEPENDENCE OF THE NATURAL LAWS. 

" Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in 
power V — Job. 

" Happy is he who lives to understand 
Not human nature only, but explores 
All natui'es, to the end that he may find 
The law that governs each." — Wordsworth. 

Ever since the days of Job, the question has been con- 
stantly coming up. How happens it that the good are afflict- 
ed and the bad are prosperous 1 that " there is one event 
to the righteous and to the wicked ?"* that the sinner often 
enjoys health, and fortune, and ease, while the good man is 
depressed by poverty and disease, and all the forms of trou- 
ble ? 

The instructions of Jesus Christ upon this subject, though 
not full, are, when we come to understand them, clear and 
♦ EccL, ix., 2. 



oJ6 STUDIES. 

satisfactory. But to understand them is not always easy, 
until we consider the truth of certain facts, and divest our- 
selves of the false views with Avhich most of us are accus- 
tomed to consider them. 

Upon this subject there are a few considerations with 
which the teacher should be familiar, of great importance, as 
they help him to reconcile the apparent contradictions in the 
beautiful system of God's providence. 

One is, that the body is as really the workmanship of God 
as the mind, and the laws of its structure and health, though 
they may be of less extensive importance, are as really His 
laws as those of religion or morality. In regard to them, 
all men are treated with entire impartiality. He who makes 
his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends his 
rain on the just and on the unjust, has made the laws of his 
material creation and of the body equally binding on all his 
creatures. The good man is just as liable to ill health, if he 
neglect the laws of health, as the bad man. The mission- 
ary, engaged in one of the holiest works that man can be 
engaged in, sickens and dies if he do not understand the 
climate in which he is living, or if, knowing its character, 
he neglect to take the necessary precautions against its ma- 
lignancy. A congregation of worshippers, assembled in a 
house the supports of whose roof are insufficient or decay- 
ed, is overwhelmed by its fall no less certainly than a band 
of robbers would have been. A man of piety, embarked on 
board a leaky ship, sinks as surely as a profane man.* God 
interposes not to change his physical laws, but requires all, 
the good as well as the bad, to obey them. Does it seem 
unreasonable that he should expect his friends, as well as 
his enemies, to obey all his laws — those of the body and the 
material world as well as those of the soul and the spiritual 
world ? 

Another important general consideration is, that these laws 

* Tills seems to be the doctrine of Christ in Luke, xiii., 1-5. 



NATURAL LAWS. 317 

»re independent of each other. The man who understands 
and obeys the laws of physical health, will probably enjoy 
it, though he luay be unjust, unmerciful, and profane ; while 
the good man, who wears out his constitution in exertions 
which are beyond his strength, though he do it in the ser- 
vice of God or his fellow men, brings upon himself disease 
and all its consequences. In this case the good man obeys 
the moral laws, but disobeys the laws of the body, and is pun- 
ished in consequence of this disobedience. 

A third consideration is, that the observance of each law 
is followed by its own reward. Labour and skill accom- 
plish their pui-poses independently of the character of those 
who employ them. If the bad man cultivates his field dili- 
gently and skilfully, he will have a plentiful crop, while the 
field of the good man, neglected, or managed without regard 
to the nature of the soil or the seed sown in it, will be bar- 
ren. It is the hand of the diligent that maketh rich. So it 
is with the mind. He who obsen^es the laws of the intel- 
lect, and diligently employs all its faculties, will reap the 
fruits of his labour, Avhether he observe the higher moral 
laws or not. Let a man of natural talent apply himself to 
the acquisition of knowledge, and give his days and nights 
to study — he will gain knowledge, he will become learned, 
whether he be virtuous or vicious, a profane scorner or an 
humble worshipper. 

If we observe all the laws, those of the material world, 
those of our own bodies, those of the intellect, and the re- 
vealed laws, — those of our moral nature, we shall do our 
whole duty, and our reward will be proportionally great. 
The true and appropriate reward of obedience to the moral 
laws, so far as this world is concerned, is peace of mind, the 
approbation of our own conscience, the satisfaction of doing 
good, and the favour of good men. All these we lose by 
violating these laws. Would it be just that we should also 
lose health, property, and reason 1 
D D 2 



•318 STUDIES. 

Another important law in regard to each of the faculties 
is, that while its due and natural exercise develops, strength- 
ens, and improves it, undue or untimely exercise, over- 
exertion, strains, weakens, and tends to destroy it. It is 
therefore of the highest importance to know, not only what 
kind of discipline each faculty requires for its growth and 
healthy development, but also what are the times at which 
it should be given, and what are the limits within which 
it should be confined. The happiness of life may be de- 
stroyed, and life itself shortened, by excess in the use of 
the powers of the body, mind, or moral nature. 

First, of the powers of the body. Each one of these ac- 
quires its full strength very slowly. The body itself comes 
to maturity at different ages in different individuals, but not 
usually in man before twenty-five or thirty years, and in 
woman not before twenty or twenty-five. To subject any 
one part to gTeat and continued exertion before the period 
of its full strength, is to endanger its health ever after. To 
require of the whole body, before maturity, the constant and 
severe exercise to which the mature body only is fitted, is 
to ensure ill health and to invite premature death. 

It is found in the French and English armies, that young 
recruits, such as enter the army before the age of 23, are 
poorly able to bear the labours and exposures of a military 
life, even in time of peace. A writer referred to in Dr. 
Andrew Combe's work on Health,* states that " volunteers 
received into the French army at the age of 18 or 20, pass 
two, three, or four years of their period of service (eight 
years) in hospital, solely from inability to bear up under 
difficulties which scarcely affect those who are a few years 
older." The same author states, that in the English army 
in Spain, " sickness and inefficiency prevailed almost in pro- 
portion to the youth and recent arrival of the soldiers." In 
a single regiment, the number of young recruits was 353, of 
* Health and Mental Education, p. 287. 



NATURAL LAWS. 319 

whom '• more than one half died within the first eleven 
months;" while the number of old soldiers was 1143, of 
whom only 77 perished in the same time. The same prin- 
ciple would probably be found to hold true wherever very 
young men are subjected to the labours of the full-grown 
man. It is, however, not easy to get statements except 
from the army, as there only is an exact record kept of the 
ages of all persons employed. 

Indeed, it seems to be a universal truth, that during those 
years in which the body is acquiring its growth and strength, 
it should not only be supplied with abundance of nourishing 
food, and be allowed a great deal of sleep, but neither body 
nor mind should be exposed to severe or long-continued, 
much less sudden labour, or that which is not prepared for 
by gradual exercise. 

The pernicious effects of premature or excessive appli- 
cation of the mind are exemplified by the cases of preco- 
cious children. They are usually very short lived, and, 
if they live to maturity, are very ordinary men. Also, by 
the numerous instances of sedentary men, especially reli- 
gious teachers, who, by extreme devotion to their duties, 
those particularly which require great action and produce 
great excitement of mind, as the preparation of sermons, 
often bring on a nervous or consumptive habit, which obli- 
ges them afterward to lead useless and miserable lives. 

Instances of excess in the use of the moral powers are 
easily found in the records of asylums for the insane, which 
present the cases of many who have had the equilibrium 
of their minds disturbed by anxiety in regard to religious du- 
ties, while they neglected those other laws of their nature 
which an enlightened view of their Avhole system, body as 
well as soul, as the workmanship of God, would have 
shown them to be laws to be observed as really, if not as 
sacredly, as the laws of the moral code.* 

* See Combe on the Constitution of Man. 



320 HIGHER STUDIES. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HIGHER STUDIES. 

" To ask or search, I blame thee not, for heav'n 
Is as the book of God before thee set, 
Wherein to read his wond'rous works, and learn 
His seasons, hours, or days, or months, or years." 

Milton. 

" Truth has her pleasure-grounds, her haunts of ease 
And easy contemplation ; 
These may he range, if willing to partake 
Their soft indulgences, and in due time 
May issue thence, recruited for the tasks 
And course of service Truth requires from those 
Who tend her altars, wait upon her throne. 
And guard her fortresses." — Wordsworth. 

Another study, with the great truths of which the teach- 
ers of the highest schools should be acquainted, is Astrono- 
my. Nothing else gives us so exalted ideas of the vast- 
ness of the Creator's dominions, and the infinity of the 
power and goodness which he is constantly exerting. No- 
thing, therefore, so elevates and expands the mind. If we 
would fill our minds with high thoughts of the greatness 
of our Father, and of the unlimited expansion of that be- 
nevolence which is extended to the inhabitants of thou- 
sands of worlds — of the comprehensiveness of those laws 
of beauty and order which embrace countless systems of 
worlds, we must study Astronomy. But, independently of 
the dignity of the science as an occupation for the intellect, 
and as a preparation for higher conceptions of that love 
which, while it has an infinite universe to act in, and count- 
less intelligences to bless, takes care even of the sparrows, 
and hears the cry of the young raven, Astronomy has claims 



ASTRONOMY THE ARTS. 3"1 

upon US on account of its numerous daily applications. 
The seasons of the year, the recurrence of light and dark- 
ness, the lengthening and shortening of the days, the beau- 
tiful changes of the moon, the wonderful eclipses, are sub- 
jects about which we should be familiar, for they are the 
theme of the watchful and insatiable curiosity of children, 
and in regard to them every tolerably educated individu- 
al should have his questionings answered. To do this in 
some degree not entirely unsatisfactory, requires no profound 
knowledge, but such only as may be obtained from some of 
the common treatises upon the subject.* The size, shape, 
and motions of the earth, the distances, magnitudes, and 
motions of the sun and moon, the difference between the 
fixed stars and the planets, the extent of the atmosphere, the 
tides of the ocean, — these are nearly all the essential points, 
though more would be useful. In connexion with Astrono- 
my, something of the nature and laws of light may be ex- 
plained. A few articles of optical and astronomical appa- 
ratus will be of great use ; but, when they are not to be 
had, substitutes can be found for all except a prism. There 
are thousands of districts in which children will be able to 
obtain information on these interesting subjects from no one 
except the teacher of tha district school. Shall they look to 
him in vain ? 

Another subject is the arts, especially the common and 
useful arts. Children are curious as to the manner in 
which the things about them are made. What is glass 
made of ? Hov/ are books made ? and tables, chairs, 
knives, earthenware ? Such questions they ask in regard 
to all objects that meet their sight. The more satisfactori- 
ly we can answer them, the more pleasure shall we give, 
the greater interest shall we excite in the minds of chil- 
dren, the more fully shall we answer the demand upon us 

♦ For example, Celestial Scenery, by Dick, the 83d number of the 
Family Library. 



322 HIGHER STUDIES. 

to furnish them with knowledge of practical use, and the 
more effectually shall we excite that curiosity which is 
only another name for the activity of certain powers of the 
mind, the energies of whose action is one of the important 
circumstances that make a difference between man and 
man. A study of the arts is among the preparations we 
are to make to teach Geography satisfactorily and profita- 
bly. Oblige a child to commit to memory the boundaries, 
cities, and rivers of Poland, and he will be likely to forget 
all ; but if you give him a description of the salt-mines of 
Cracow, and the mode of preparing the salt there, he will 
remember it, and the other facts associated with it. Some 
such fact in regard to the arts may be a part of each day's 
preparation for the lesson. What can be more interesting 
than the coal-mines, and the preparation of iron, gold, and 
the other metals ?* 

In teaching Geography, you will find constant need of a 
knowledge of History, and there is no way in which both 
can be made so interesting as by teaching them in connex- 
ion. A place which would soon be forgotten if nothing but 
its name and situation were mentioned, becomes engraven 
on the mind, by being associated with some remarkable 
event in history, some curious phenomenon in nature, or 
some interesting operation in art. History, therefore, should 
be one of your studies. The most important portions of 
history are that of our own country, and of England, as thence 
are derived our government, laws, institutions, language, and 
literature ; and the history of the modern Western nations 
of Europe, of Greece and Rome, and of the Jews and other 
nations in the west of Asia, as contained in the scriptures 
of the Old Testament. 

An ancient philosopher, being asked what a child should 
learn, answered, what will be of use to him when he be- 

* Kazan's Technology contains a groat deal of valuable informa- 
tion on the useful and fine arts. 



CONSTITUTION AND CIVIL LAWS- 323 

comes a man. It is our happiness to live in a country where 
all men have equal rights ; where each individual man has 
a voice in the government, by helping, through his vote, to 
elect those who carry on the government ; where every man 
may be called to "take a part in the government by being 
elected to office ; and where he is almost sure to take a part 
in the administration of justice, by being called to serve on a 
jury. These rights give birth to corresponding duties. Every 
man ought to understand the frame of the government under 
which he lives ; to know something of the constitution on 
which that government is based ; of the laws which he is 
bound to obey, and of his rights and duties as a citizen. 
This knowledge comes not by intuition, nor is it the dictate 
of mere unassisted common sense. It ought to be commu- 
nicated in the course of his education. The masters of the 
highest class of common schools, — those masters from whose 
hands a large part of the population pass directly to the bu-. 
siness and duties of life, should therefore be able to com- 
municate something of tliis kind of knowledge. A study of 
the Constitution of the State and of the Union, of the gen- 
eral frame of our govermnent, and of the character of our 
institutions and laws, must therefore be a part of the duty 
of those teachers. Instruction in this department may not 
be a part of the course prescribed, but it may, and, if possi- 
ble, should, be given in the indirect conversational mode of 
which I have so often spoken. One or two volumes will 
be sufficient for the purpose of giving the teacher what he 
will wish to communicate. Several such exist ; Story's 
Constitutional Class Book, Sullivan's Political Class Book, 
and others of a similar class. 

A distinguishing attribute of man, — that which, more than 
any other, raised him to his high place in the creation, — is 
the faculty of language, by means of which he holds com- 
munion with his Maker, matures his own thoughts and 
avails himself of the thoughts of others, makes himself mas- 
ter of the accumulated wisdom of time, and imparts to liira 



324 HIGHER STUDIES. 

who comes after whatever he has gleaned. It behoo\-e» 
the teacher to perfect himself in the use of this faculty. It 
is his instrument. Very much of his success, of the influ- 
ence he is to exert on his pupils, will depend upon his skill 
in the use of it. 

If he is not by nature highly gifted in the power of ex- 
pression, he may, by proper self-discipline, improve the 
power almost indefinitely. To this end he must give his 
attention to three points : 1. Utterance. 2. Pronunciation. 
3. Command of language, or fluency. Of the two former I 
shall speak hereafter. 

Command of language is to be gained by much reading 
of good books. This is the first requisite. He who would 
use language freely and well must be a great reader. But 
this is not enough. He must also write. Dr. Franklin 
recommends an excellent method, upon which he success- 
fully practised himself, to form a good style and obtain 
command of language. He took some essay from the 
Spectator, made short hints of the sense of each sentence, 
and laid them aside until he had forgotten the language in 
which they were written. Then, without looking at the 
book, he tried to complete the paper again, by writing out 
each hinted sentence at length in the best words that oc- 
curred to him. He then improved his own writing by 
comparing it with the original and correcting the faults 
Another method, which he thought gtill more effectual, as 
giving a greater choice of words, was turning some tales of 
the Spectator into verse, and afterward, when he had nearly 
forgotten the prose, turning them back again.* 

Careful composition of any kind, on any subject, in prose 
or poetry, will have the effect of giving copiousness of ex- 
pression and exactness of thought. To this must be added 
the habit of speaking upon any subjects on which pupils 
are to be addressed. This should be practised daily. 
* Sparks's edition of the Works of Franklin, vol. i., IS, 19. 



FLUENCY — RHETORIC LOGIC. 325 

Stories should be told, historical events related, curious 
facts stated, and advice given, upon subjects of conduct, 
study, and character. If you find that you forget what you 
intended to say, it may be Avell to make short notes, the 
sight of which will recall what you have thought. 

1. In preparation, make yourself master of the subject by 
study and meditation. 

2. Arrange what you have to say in distinct heads. 
This will improve your powers of reasoning and of order. 

3. It may be well to select subjects on which you ought 
to say something. 

4. Take occasions as they present themselves in school, 
or make occasions. 

While engaged in improving the power of expression, we 
must also endeavour to gain an acquaintance with the best 
writers in the English language. It is a priAdlege belong- 
ing to our calling, that it leaves us several hours each day 
for reading. And what can be a better or pleasanter way 
of spending these hours than in reading the admirable 
books of Avhich our literature is full? But more of this 
hereafter. 

Intimately connected Avith this department, and essential 
to its completeness, is the study of Rhetoric and Logic. 
Something of both these is essential to enable us to explain 
the words that occur in the common reading-books. But, 
more than this. Rhetoric is the art of persuading. Logic the. 
art of convincing ; — Who has occasion for all the resources 
of both more than he who is engaged in convincing chil- 
dren of the truth, and persuading them to obey it ; — who is, at 
the same time, moulding the affections, and training the 
powers of the imderstanding ? 

I would recommend to every teacher who has, or can cre- 
ate, an opportunity, to become acquainted Avith some other 
language besides the English. If possible, he should learn 
something of the Latin language. The reasons for so do- 
Ee 



326 HIGHER STUDIES. 

ing are briefly these : 1 . It is one of the great sources of 
English, particularly of most of those words we call dic- 
tionary words. 2. It is the parent of all the languages of 
the South of Europe. 3. It has formed the study of nearly 
all the best writers in English, and with the knowledge of 
it we shall better understand their works. 4. All its forms 
of speech and idioms are extremely unlike those of our lan- 
guage, and we therefore get from it a better knowledge of 
language in general. 5. Translating from it is one of the 
best and surest ways of improving the style. 6. Its study 
gives an admirable discipline to the faculties. 

If he have not time to learn the Latin, I would advise 
him to learn French. Several of the advantages of study- 
ing Latin may be obtained from this study, though I think 
m an inferior degree. It has, however, one advantage which 
the Latin has not. Books of great value, on all subjects, 
are continually making their appearance in this language. 

That he may the more perfectly understand Arithmetic, 
he should study Algebra. Some parts of the former, the 
extraction of roots, for example, cannot be easily understood 
without, and it throws light upon every part. 

He should, by all means, study Geometry. This is an 
excellent discipline to the reasoning powers, and is, more- 
over, essential to an understanding of the best treatises in 
Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. It is the foundation 
of Trigonometry, Surveying, and the other modes of meas- 
uring which he may be called to teach. 

Another accomplishment which a highly-qualified teach- 
er should have, is the art of Drawing. To all persons who 
are to have anything to do with machinery, this is of great 
importance. It would, indeed, be highly useful for eveiy 
mechanic to be able to draw well enough to represent all 
the articles which he may be called upon to make. His 
employer often wants to see how a thing will look before 
he orders it. It would be well if all who have occasion to 



DRAWING TEACHING. 327 

employ mechanics could draw. They could thus much 
more easily and perfectly show Avhat they wanted done. 
To the planners of houses and other buildings it ought to 
be considered essential, and it is useful to travellers, to nat- 
uralists, and to many others. 

On his own account the teacher ought to be able to draw. 
Every good teacher must use the black-board ; and the 
more readily and skilfully he can draw upon it, the more 
frequently and successfully Avill he employ it. 

Drawing should be communicated to females as a re- 
source. What a pleasure is it to a benevolent lady to be- 
able to carry home to her friends delineations of the beau- 
tiful prospects or remarkable objects she meets with on her 
travels ! There are, moreover, a thousand solitary hours in 
the life of almost every female, which may be made pleas- 
ant by this art, and which would be monotonous or sad with- 
out. A highly-accomplished lady, whose excellent educa- 
tion had given her many resources, who was well read in 
English literature, and familiar with several other lan- 
guages, has often told me that, of all her acquisitions, she 
valued none so highly as her power of drawing, on account 
of the resources it had given in the many solitary hours of 
a life, some portions of which had been passed in the se- 
clusion of the country. 

Another study is the Art of Teaching. On this subject 
he should be well read. There are several valuable books, 
written in this country, from which he may obtain very im- 
portant aids. 

" The Teacher," by Jacob Abbott, is full of ingenious de- 
vices, some of which are described in this volume, for ac- 
complishing his objects in school, and especially for obtain- 
ing an influence over pupils. For its moral tone, this book 
is also of great value. 

" Hall's Lectures" is a valuable book, made by a man of 
a great deal of experience. 



328 HIGHER STUDIES. 

" Hall's Lectures to Female Teachers" is a small but 
excellent work, addressed particularly to the teachers of 
primary schools. 

The " Teacher Taught," by Emerson Davis, contains, in 
a small compass, useful practical directions for the manage- 
ment of a common school. 

" The Teacher's Manual," by Thomas H. Palmer, ob- 
tained the prize offered by the American Institute of In- 
struction. It contains most valuable suggestions in regard 
to every part of a teacher's duty, and much important in- 
formation, particularly in reference to teaching Arithmetic 
and Morality. 

" Suggestions on Education," by Catharine E. Beecher, 
are admirable, especially in regard to the education of fe- 
males. The shortness of the work is almost its only fault. 

Still more is to be done by reflection. Every school is 
somewhat different from every other ; and it is only by think- 
ing much upon the peculiar circumstances of a school, and 
the individuals of which it is composed, that the best modes 
for its government and instruction can be devised. Still a 
teacher may be prepared for its duties by a previous knowl- 
edge of the regulations observed in other schools, and ne- 
cessary in all. 

In connexion with the study of the Art of Teaching, the 
study of the Philosophy of the Human Mind should com- 
mand the attention of the teacher. This great subject has 
occupied some of the profoundest thinkers that have lived, 
men who have been the pioneers of human improvement, 
whose far-reaching eye has penetrated into futurity, and de- 
tected in its germe what would lead to the advancement of 
the race. They, more than any other class of men, have at 
all times drawn public attention to education in its various 
aspects. No well-read teacher should be ignorant of their 
writings. 



POWER OF A TEACHER. 329 



CHAPTER V. 

ADVANTAGES OF A TEACHEr's LIFE. 

" Turn your steps 
Wherever fancy leads, by day, by night — 
You walk, you live, you speculate 
"With no incurious eye ; and books are yours, 
Within whose silent chambers treasure lies, 
Preserved from age to age ; more precious far 
Than that acciunulated store of gold 
And orient gems, which, for a day of need, 
The sultan hides within ancestral tombs. 
And music waits upon your skilful touch. 

Furnished thus. 
How can you droop, if willing to be raised!" 

Wordsworth. 

Such are some of the endowments and some of the acqui- 
sitions which are necessary for distinguished usefuhiess as 
a teacher. If fully possessed, they will raise a man far 
above the level, as to intellect and acquirement, of com- 
mon society. Yet all are but too little to enable you to 
do the good which may be done in the situation you are 
going to occupy. Still, some of you, regarding the low 
estimation in which the office is sometimes held, may be 
tempted to say, With these gifts and this education, with 
talents whereby I might distinguish myself before the world, 
shall I sacrifice myself in the seclusion of a schoolroom 1 
If you have the poor ambition which makes you sigh for 
ephemeral distinction, go ; there is no place for you within 
these quiet walls. But if you have something of that lofty 
spirit of devotion to duty, which led the poet Wolfe, with 
talents which could excite the envy of Byron, to bury himself 
in a remote and unknown parish, dare to live for others and 
for your own best good. Be ambitious of the power of being 
Ee2 



330 HIGHER STUDIES. 

useful. Wliere will you have so mucli, or of so liigh a kind, 
as here ? Where else can you do so much ? The school is 
the great reforming and regenerating instrument. How many 
of the hopes of the improvement of the race cluster about it ! 
You are surrounded by innocent childhood and generous 
youth, the hope of your native country, full of gentleness, 
docility, intelligence, uncorrupted by the world, open to all 
good thoughts and noble sentiments, full of warm affections, 
eager for improvement, burning with desires for excellence. 
To-day they are children, to-morrow they will be men and 
women, the fathers and mothers of the land. They crowd 
around you, waiting to receive the impress Avhich your 
character shall give them. 

The fair-haired girl before you may be the future mother 
of a Washington or a Marshall. By inspiring her heart 
with the highest principles, you will do something to ad- 
vance humanity by forming a sublime specimen of a just 
man, a sage, and pure expounder of the great principles of 
law. 

These boys are soon to fill the halls of legislation, the 
schools of philosophy, the ranks of literature, the work- 
shops, the fields, the marts of trade, the pulpit, the desk 
of the editor, the chair of the teacher. Inspire them with 
a high sense of justice, and you will elevate jurisprudence 
and humanize the laws. Imbue them with a deep rever- 
ence for goodness, for the moral laws of God, and you raise 
the tone of society, and do something to purify the foun- 
tains of instruction. Give them a knowledge of the laws 
of physical nature, and you do much to improve agriculture 
and the useful arts. There is not a calling, however high 
and glorious, which some one of your pupils may not fill. 
If you have genius enough to enkindle his ; if you have 
knowledge enough to give a right direction to his thoughts ; 
if you have nobleness enough to give a higher aim to Ixis 
young aspirations for excellence, you will have no mean 



ADVANTAGES OF A TEACHER's LIFE. 331 

agency in elevating the character of your country and man- 
kind. Is not this enough for your ambition ? What imder 
heaven would you have higher 1 

The career of the teacher does not, it is true, lead to dis- 
tinction or to vsrealth. It is not brilliant ; but it leads to 
something better than distinction — to the heartfelt honour 
and affectionate respect of those vv^ho feel that they have 
been made wiser and better by its influence. Few men in 
their old age are looked upon with such reverential regard 
as faithful and intelligent teachers. I often converse with a 
gray-haired man, who had the good fortune to receive, when 
quite a child, instruction from a man of learning, and pol- 
ished manners, and noble character ; and, though he has 
been much in society, and seen familiarly all the most dis- 
tinguished men of his day, he still looks back upon good 
master Pemberton as the model of an accomplished scholar 
and a finished gentleman ; and there is no one whom he 
holds in higher respect than he cherishes for the memory 
of this venerable man. Would not such a remembrance be 
a higher and more enduring reward than the remembrance 
of popular favour 1* 

The life of a teacher has the advantage of perfect regu- 
larity. He has what most men in other occupations often 
sigh for, the entire disposal of his leisure hours. In nearly 
all places, the time spent in school is by custom limited to 
six or seven hours a day for four days of the week, and 
three or four for two other days. It never should be more 

* " As time advances, and a new generation of well-educated men 
and women grows up, ... . who have had no other association with 
their teacher but of the most able, wise, accomplished, and amiable 
man of their acquaintance, in whose society they have experienced 
only delight, and the chief delight of their lives, there will be less 
and less dependance on mere endowment, badges of honour, or ex- 
amples of fashion, for securing to the educator that high place in 
public estimation which it will then be morally impossible to with- 
hold from him." — Simpson. 



332 



HIGHER STUDIES. 



than this. The health of the teacher and the welfare of the 
taught settle this limit. How many hours does this ar- 
rangement leave to the teacher to be employed as he pleas- 
es ; how many pleasiures it puts within his reach. If h« 
be in the country, a few acres of land, or even a large gar- 
den, will give the recreation and exercise he needs, and, 
besides more substantial returns, will, if situated near the 
schoolhouse, give means for experiments, and lessons in 
horticulture, and the management of trees and fruits, a de- 
sirable addition to the course of instruction in the country 
towns. If he be also a botanist, he may transplant from the 
neighbouring fields and woods the plants in which he feels 
an interest, and enjoy the great satisfaction of studying their 
habits while he trains them with his own hand. Without 
extraordinary exertion or going to any expense, he might, 
in a few years, form about him, of our American wild flow- 
ers, the very flowers w^iich are the pride of the gardens of 
the English and French — the most beautiful that grow in 
any temperate climate — a collection which would be worth 
a visit from a prince. 

If he have a taste for Experimental Philosophy, he may, 
by means of a few instruments, a thermometer, barometer, 
and magnetical needles, at the expense of a few minutes de- 
voted to observations daily, keep lumself familiar with some 
of those great investigations of the laws of nature which are 
commanding the attention of the philosophical world ; or he 
may combine with his walks interesting inquiries in Geolo- 
gy and Mineralogy ; or form an acquaintance with the in- 
sects, the fishes, the shells, or the birds. Charming pur- 
suits, enough to make the path of life pleasant and smooth, 
if it were roughened by many more asperities than are found 
on the way of the generous and faithful teacher. It is too 
late a day for the ignorant and frivolous to sneer at these de- 
lightful studies. Many a noble in the Old World values his 
princely fortune — many a retired gentleman values his com- 



ADVANTAGES OF A TEACHERS LIFE. 333 

petency, chiefly because it leaves him at liberty to devote 
his life to them. Thanks to God, his worshippers, and the 
votaries of the sciences that investigate his works, are be- 
come too numerous and too respectable for any of their 
number to suffer from scorn because he devotes himself 
to these elevating and dignified pursuits. The Newtons 
and Galileos, the Linnseuses and Cuviers, the DecandoUes 
and Bowditches, are too large and mighty a band for one of 
their followers and associates, be he even no more than 
a village schoolmaster, to feel anything but an honest pride 
at being of the number. 

Or, if he have no taste for any of the departments of Nat- 
ural Science, he may still, if he have a love for reading, 
command resources which leave him little to desire, nothino- 
certainly to envy, in the lot of any other man. Books, the 
best books that have been ever written, are so cheap that he 
must be very poor not to be able to surround himself with 
enough to occupy all his leisure. And in so doing, he ex- 
ercises a power to which the fabled virtue of Aladdin's 
lamp made but a faint and distant approach. At his will, 
he summons about him the spirits of the wise and eloquent 
among the living and the dead. They come and sit down by 
his fireside, wait his questionings, and depart at his bidding ; 
the poets, Halleck, Bryant with his wood-notes, the Danas, 
with Southey, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Campbell, from 
the other side of the Atlantic ; the historians, Bancroft, Pres- 
cott, Irving, Sparks, with Hallam, Turner, Mackintosh, and 
their brethren ; the philosophers, Herschel, Araott, Lyell ; 
the naturalists, Audubon and Gray, with Wilson, and Hook- 
er, and troops of others not less illustrious. And across the 
dark and wide ocean of time will come the sage, the gifted 
seer, the inspired prophet, and unfold the picture of times 
and men long past, and thoughts that can never pass away ; 
the poet of the human heart, from the banks of Avon ; 
the poet of Paradise, from his small garden-house in West- 



334 HIGHER STUDIES. 

minster ; Burns, from his cottage on the Ayr ; and Scott, 
from his dwelling by the Tweed ; and the blind old man 
of Scio, still blind but still eloquent, will sit down with 
him, and as he sang almost thirty centuries* ago among 
the isles of Greece, sing the war of Troy or the wander- 
ings of Ulysses.* Skill in music, with the little choir 
of his own pupils that he might always assemble about 
him, and who, as they passed from his tutelage, would not 
all break the tie which unites those who love the tuneful 
art, would be an added resource, and, with a talent for draw- 
ing, would make his habitation a point of attraction — a radi- 
ant centre of light and refinement. 

May not a man be contented with his lot, who, after a few 
busy hours of useful labour, may spend his evenings in com- 
pany and occupations such as these ? 

It may be considered a fortunate circumstance in an in- 
dividual's life that he can make his duties and his pleas- 
ures one. This is your case. 

You may have the satisfaction of thinking that, while in- 
dulging in these luxuries, you are, at the same time, prepa- 
ring yourself for a better performance of your duties. To 
the purposes of the teacher no kind of knowledge comes 
amiss. He may find useful facts and apt illustrations in all 
sorts of books and in every variety of investigation ; and, 
however highly he may be able to cultivate himself, he may 
be sure that his cultivation will not be merely selfish. In 
the school, the humblest intellect, with moderate attain- 
ments, with right views and earnest purposes, may do some- 
thing ; while the genius of an angel, united with all knowl- 
edge, all accomplishment, and all excellence, would not be 

* Just as he was writing this, the author had occasion to address 
an audience at a school celebration. Having little time for prepara- 
tion, he, almost in spite of himself, enlarged upon the thoughts above 
expressed. The reported address may possibly reach the eye of 
some who read this. 



ADVANTAGES OF A TEACHEr's LIFE. 335 

lost, but would find their true place and highest exercise, 
and, instead of being wasted in the poor office of advancing 
their possessor, would warm hosts of others with the love 
of knowledge, virtue, and excellence. 

Another favourable circumstance in the life of a teacher 
is, that he is not subject to anxieties about the fluctuations 
of trade, like the merchant ; the variations of a distant mar- 
ket, hke the manufacturer ; of the home market, like the 
mechanic ; the vicissitudes of storms, like the mariner ; or 
of weather and the seasons, like the farmer. He will sym- 
pathize with his neighbours in sufferings produced by these 
causes, but will not feel that personal solicitude which he 
has who realizes that events are likely to happen which liis 
sagacity ought to have foreseen and his forecast to have 
provided against, and which, if not foreseen and provided 
for, may bring upon him inevitable ruin. 

Such are some of the advantages which belong to the po- 
sition of a teacher. If, with suitable character and talents, 
you devote yourself for life to the work, you may be able to 
realize them all, or, at least, so many of them as you prefer. 
Most of you Mali teach but a portion of each year, and that, 
perhaps, for only a (ew years. Yet you may, if you please, 
during the time you are so employed, enjoy, at least in a de- 
gree, the advantages which I point out as belonging to this 
pursuit. Faithful to your charge and to yourself, you may 
look back upon the time so spent as among the most profita- 
ble and happy of your life. What though yours be an 
humble lot : 

" The smoke ascends 
To heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth 
As from the haughtiest palace. He, whose soul 
Ponders this true equality, may walk 
The fields of earth with gratitude and hope." 



336 



BOOK III. 

DUTIES. 

" To watch over the associations which they form in infancy ; to 
give them early habits of mental activity ; to rouse their curiosity, 
and direct it to proper objects ; to exercise their ingenuity and in- 
vention ; to cultivate in their minds a turn for speculation, and, at 
the same time, preserve their attention alive to the objects around 
them ; to awaken their sensibilities to the beauties of nature, and to 
inspire them with a relish for intellectual enjoyment, — these form 
but a part of the business of education." — Stewart. 

The duties of a teacher are fourfold : 

I. To himself, the duty of self-culture, inasmuch as he 
is to teach by the influence of his character and example, as 
well as by giving direct instruction : 

II. To his pupils, as he is bound, 

1 . To furnish them with the means of acquiring knowl- 
edge ; 

2. To contribute to the formation of their moral char- 
acter ; 

3. To assist them in developing their various faculties, 
that they may have a healthy mind in a healthy body ; 

4. To give them knowledge, which shall prepare them 
for the proper discharge of all their duties in life : 

III. To his fellow-teachers, as bound to elevate the call- 
ing in which he is engaged, and increase its usefulness : 

IV. To the parents of his pupils, and to the community 
in which he lives. 

These duties are intimately related, yet it will be con- 
venient to treat of them in separate chapters, as thereby we 
may obtain clearer views of them. 

In this book a plan of duties will be sketched, to the entire 
performance of which few, perhaps, will be able fully to at- 
tain. But it is to be remembered that it is only by setting 
our standard high that we shall accomplish the utmost in 
our power. 



INFLUENCE OF A TEACHER. 3?7 



^ CHAPTER I. 

A teacher's personal duties. 

" The mind, impressible and soft, with ease 
Imbibes and copies what she hears and sees, 
And through life's labyrinth holds fast the clew 
That education gives her, false or true." 

CoWPER. 

"Yes, it is a grave responsibility which rests upon you. The 
great majority of the population of nations is confided to your direc- 
tion. They become what you make of them. First impressions are 
all-powerful ; they contain the germes of all virtues and of all vices." 
— L'lnstitiUeur Primaire. 

As is the teacher, so is the school. This has justly be- 
come almost a proverb. It recognises the great influence 
of a teacher, direct and indirect, upon the character and 
conduct, and present and future welfare of all who are in 
his school. 

By direct influence is meant whatever a teacher exercises 
intentionally and expressly, in his labours, for the instruction 
and improvement of his school. By indirect influence is 
meant that which is exercised by every other expression of 
his character. All that is in a man speaks out in the tone of 
his voice, in his manners, his looks, his deportment. It often 
speaks more decidedly, and makes a deeper impression, than 
the words which he utters. Energy of character, for exam- 
ple, shows itself by marks not easily to be mistaken. It 
controls the eye, the voice, the step, every motion. It 
makes itself felt. It is the life of a school. In like man- 
ner, gentleness, which, in a well-balanced character, should 
always be combined with it, speaks in a language no less 
significant and intelligible. It diffuses an inexpressible 
F F 



338 DUTIES. 

charm over the whole conduct, and attracts to an imitation 
of itself. The combination of these, energy of action and 
gentleness in the mode of action, is most desirable in the 
character of a teacher. Both are insensibly, but rapidly, 
communicated to a school ; so that a stranger, on going into 
one, would very soon discover, by the spirit of activity or 
of sluggishness, of good manners or of clownishness, which 
prevailed ; whether it were under the direction of a person 
of energy and a gentleman, or a sluggard and a clown. 
Both these qualities are capable of being acquired, and must 
be, if they are not possessed already. Energy may be 
formed by a resolute purpose to do what we can, and with 
our might. Gentleness is the natural effect of the cultiva- 
tion of the higher parts of our nature, and especially of ha- 
bitual self-control. 

What is true of these is also true, in a greater or less de- 
gree, of every other quality. All pass from the teacher into 
the character of the pupil, and contribute to form it. Thus 
a spirit of order diffuses itself, the love of application, of 
punctuality, of neatness, of labour, a spirit of courtesy, a 
cheerful and contented spirit. This is, of course, especial- 
ly true of those qualities which find expression in language. 
Children learn language by hearing it spoken, and, with the 
words, they at the same time receive something of the feel- 
ing expressed by the words. If they could hear only pure, 
refined, and generous feelings expressed, they Avould derive 
only good from this source. The_ teacher should take care 
that, so far as relates to himself, this shall be the case. 
Children, even more than men, are the creatures of imita- 
tion. The qualities of which I have spoken are such as di- 
rectly affect the language and actions. They are, therefore, 
objects of direct imitation. Children are also creatures of 
sympathy. This principle, so strong in all human beings, 
is most so in the unsophisticated heart of a child. What I 
have said, therefore, applies, with not less force, to those 



INFLUENCE OF A TEACHER. 339 

more inward sentiments, which, we are apt to think, are 
hidden in our inmost hearts. Love towards mankind, re- 
spect for truth, admiration of excellence, a sense of justice, 
the sentiment of veneration towards God and his laws, — all 
these speak in language often instinctively understood by a 
child. It is true that a person deeply read in the arts of de- 
ception may counterfeit them so as to impose upon others, 
but he is much more likely to impose on men than on chil- 
dren. No matter what pains he may take to conceal his 
real feelings, it is these which the hypocrite Avill be like- 
ly to impress upon the character of children. They will not 
detect his hypocrisy, but they Avill be bent to evil by his in- 
iquity. 

It is not, then, by our good qualities alone, of mind or heart, 
that we influence our pupils. They are hardly less prone, 
unfortunately, to sympathize with and imitate our vices than 
our virtues. It is in vain that we would give lessons of or- 
der if our affairs are in confusion ; or enforce gentleness in 
words of violence ; or inculcate the great lesson of self-con- 
trol in tones of impatience or in the language of passion. 
Our abstract principles may be unintelligible, our words be- 
yond their comprehension ; but our voice, our look, our man- 
ner they will understand and feel. 

These truths should serve as a caution to those who li- 
cense teachers, as well as to teachers. The former should 
not introduce into a school any person whose qualities they 
are not willing to see w^rought into the character and life 
of the future man. And for the latter. 

You must not carry with you into school, principles, feel- 
ings, motives, or habits, the seeds of wdiich you are not 
willing to sow in the susceptible heart of childhood. 

Take care, then, what manner of men you are when you 
enter into the discharge of these high duties. " Whoso 
causeth one of these little ones to offend, it. were better for 
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he 
wore drowned in thf^ dp.ptli of the sd " 



340 DUTIES. 

What motives are thus placed before you to elevate your 
OM^n character by the cultivation of everything excellent, 
and the repression of everything bad ! Who can tell what 
power you may exert, for good or for evil, over the whole 
future existence of the immortal beings confided to your 
care ! Many of them will be committed to you at an age 
when their whole inward nature is capable of being mould- 
ed at your pleasiure. In the unhesitating confidence of 
childhood they will trust entirely to you. Some of them 
will look upon you with a respect which they feel only for 
their parents ; or, if you have the excellences of character 
which you ought to have, the learning, taste, eloquence, and 
sincerity, and their parents are the poor, ignorant, besotted 
things that but too many are, they will look upon you with 
a respect almost unbounded ; they will learn from you their 
earliest lessons in truth, justice, and the fear of God ; they 
will receive from you their first impressions of the laws of 
nature and the wisdom of God's providence. It will depend 
on you whether they grow up to virtue, usefulness, piety, 
and happiness, or in ignorance, bitterness, worthlessness, 
and wretchedness. If you are yourselves just, disinterest- 
ed, and benevolent, you will awaken the elements of these 
qualities in them ; if you are patient, orderly, industrious, 
so will they be ; if yoiu: own heart burns with reverence, 
it will kindle a flame in theirs. 

You thus see your duty. It is to examine yourselves, 
and remove from your character what will have a perni- 
cious or a doubtful effect on theirs, and to cultivate, in the 
highest degree possible, the noblest of your faculties and 
sentiments. 



DUTIES OF A TEACHER. 341 



CHAPTER II. 
rHE teacher's direct duties to his pupils, means of 

KNOWLEDGE. 

" Binding herself by statute to secure, 
For all the children whom her soil maintains, 
The rudiments of letters, and inform 
The mind with moral and religious truth. 
Both understood and practised ; so that none. 
However destitute, be left to droop, 
By timely culture unsustained ; or run 
Into a wild disorder ; or be forced 
To drudge through weary life without the help 
Of intellectual implements and tools.'" 

WOEDSWORTH. 

The teacher is bound to furnish his pupils with the 
means of acquiring knowledge. This is the particular bu- 
siness of every school. Whatever else is done or left un- 
done, this must be accomplished. Every common school 
is established for the express purpose of communicating the 
arts of reading, writing, and calculation. These arts are 
not knowledge ; they are something better ; they are the 
keys of knowledge. One of them, the art of Reading, 
opens the door to all the accumulated learning, wisdom, 
science, and art of mankind, — the wealth of all time locked 
up in books. Writing bestows the power of communicating 
with all other persons, distant and future, as well as pres- 
ent. It opens the door between this and future ages. Cal- 
culation gives the means of doing perfect justice to om- 
selves, and to all other men in our transactions with them. 
These, therefore, are properly considered the fundamental 
branches, and of more essential importance than any others. 
If he fail in them, he fails altogether of the purpose for 
which he entered school. 

F F 2 



342 DUTIES. 

" It is the duty, therefore, of every teacher, who com- 
mences a common district school for a single season, to 
make, when he commences, an estimate of the state of his 
pupils in reference to these three branches. How do they 
all write ? How do they all read ? How do they calcii- 
late 1 It would be well if he would make a careful exam- 
ination of the school in this respect. Let them all write a 
specimen. Let all read, and let him make a memorandum 
of the manner, noticing how many read fluently, how many 
with difficulty, how many know only their letters, and how 
many are to be taught these. Let him ascertain, also, what 
progress they have made in Arithmetic ; how many can 
readily perform the elementary processes, and what number 
need instruction in these. After thus surveying the ground, 
let him form his plan, and lay out his whole strength in 
carrying forward, as rapidly as possible, the whole school in 
these studies. By this means he is acting, most directly 
and powerfully, on the intelligence of the whole future com- 
munity in that place. He is opening to fifty or a hundred 
minds stores of knowledge, which they will go on explo- 
ring for years to come."* 

Grammar should be considered subsidiary to reading and 
writing. Its great use is to enable the pupil more perfectly 
to understand what he reads, and more correctly and dis- 
tinctly to express what he writes. It is extremely difficult 
to make a very good reader without showing him the de- 
pendance of the parts of a sentence on each other, which 
belongs to Grammar. Properly taught, it may be also made 
a most valuable means of exercising some of the powers of 
the mind at every stage of the child's progress. It should 
be thoroughly understood by the teacher. 

Connected with writing is Drawing. It should be taught 
when it can. It will be a valuable exercise in trainiMg the 
eye and the hand. Both may, by means of it, be trained to 
* The Teacher, p. 65, 66. 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 343 

great acciiracy of perception and execution. It may also 
be oftentimes of use in furnishing employment to such pu- 
pils as have nothing else to do. I will not speak of it as an 
essential qualification in a teacher, but as a most desirable 
acquisition, which he should make if it is in his power. 

The third important art to be communicated is Arithme- 
tic, connected with which should always be something of 
book-keeping. 

Of all these I shall speak more at large hereafter. 



CHAPTER III. 

DIRECT DUTIES. FORMATION OF MORAL HABITS. 

" To instruct youth in the languages and in the sciences is com- 
paratively of little importance, if we are inattentive to the habits 
they acquire, and are not careful in giving to all their different fac- 
ulties and all their different principles of action a proper degree of 
employment." — Stewart. 

A TEACHER should do what he can to form the moral 
character of his pupils. I have spoken of his indirect in- 
fluence in this respect. That will chiefly affect their feel- 
ings, by giving them the love of excellence. I am now to 
speak of what he is to endeavour to do to form their habits 
of right action. 

The great object to be kept always in view is to estab- 
lish the dominion of conscience, to make it quick and act- 
ive, and to connect with its action the formation of habit. 
We speak of conscience and habit separately, but they 
should, as far as possible, be constantly and inseparably as- 
sociated. 

Conscience is that power within us which approves of 
what is thought to be right, and disapproves of what is 
thought to be wrong. Beginning to act in infancy, as soon 



S44 DUTIES. 

as a child is capable of the ideas of right and wrong, at 
first, like all the other faculties at their earliest dawn, its 
action is obscure, and its decisions indistinct. Like every 
other faculty, it is improved by exercise, and weakened by 
inaction. It should be enlightened by reflection upon 
those relations to God and man from which duties spring, 
by the truths revealed in the Scriptures, and by a kno^wl- 
edge of the laws of our nature, and of the creation in which 
we are placed. The enlightened conscience should be 
constantly exercised, from the beginning to the end of life. 
In this way only does it become, what it is doubtless in- 
tended by our Maker to be, the supreme and controlling 
power. It is exercised by deliberately asking, in regard to 
every action which is presented, " Is this right or wrong ?" 
And in this way only will be established the most impor- 
tant of all habits, that of acting conscientiously. 

The habits over which the teacher has most control, and 
which he may do much to form in his pupils, are ; 

The habits of punctuality and regularity ; of diligence and 
love of labour ; of economy ; of perseverance ; of fore- 
. thought ; 

Of kindness and courtesy ; of mercy to inferior animals ; 
of forgiveness of injuries ; of charitableness ; 

Of justice and respect for property ; of respect for supe- 
riors ; of submission to the authority of laws ; of truth ; of 
reverence for God, and obedience to his laws. 

I shall endeavour to show very concisely, otherwise 
these remarks would become a volume of sermons, how 
the duties on which each of these rests may be explained 
and enforced, and how the habit may be formed. In re- 
gard to all of them, it should, however, be said, that there 
are individuals in whom it is nearly impossible for them to 
be formed. We must not, on that account, be discouraged. 
Our efforts may, and will, be successful in reference to the 
great majority. Let us not be disheartened that we cannot 
do all things. 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 345 

The liabit of pwictuaUty at school will be strengthened 
by everything which makes school pleasant. If a story is 
told at the morning hour, which the children like to hear, 
they will be induced to exert themselves to be present. If 
a song or a hymn is sung, some laggard will be led to come 
early to enjoy the pleasure of joining in it. Kind com- 
mendation of those who are punctual, and kind expostula- 
tion with the tardy, will have their effect. Appeal to the 
example of good men. General Washington was always 
punctual, and reqiured others to be so. Explain to a child 
that, by being tardy, he loses time which he cannot recall, 
disappoints his friends of the improvement he ought to 
make, and, what he has no right to do, sacrifices the time 
of others as well as his own. 

The habit of Regularity is formed by the natural action 
of a good system. This depends on yourself. A child 
who has long been in the habit of doing things in a settled 
order, will feel the pleasantness and advantage of the course, 
and will be likely to adhere to it. 

Love of Labour and Diligence. — Whatever makes labour 
or study pleasant will lead to this habit. The studies must 
be adapted to the capacity ; they must be made clear and 
practicable, but not too easy. It is altogether false that 
children are iiaturally indolent. On the contrary, they are 
naturally active, and fond of exercising their faculties ; and 
if we can find out how to lead them to exercise their minds 
upon appropriate objects, such as are suited to their state 
and strength, we shall easily form this habit. Indeed, our 
principal care is to see that we do not break this natural 
habit by absurd and vmreasonable regulations. 

Economy may be enforced by requiring children to be 
careful of their books and other articles of property, and by 
explaining to them the folly and wickedness of waste, in 
that it diminishes their power of doing good to those in 
want. It would be well to make economy the subject occa- 
sionally of remarks to the school, laying down and proving 



846 DUTIES. 

the principle that no one ought, in any case, to spend more 
than his income ; and stating the pernicious consequences 
of borrowing, and then living on the property of others. 

Forethought may be taught by our regulations. At the 
time of an exercise which is assigned beforehand, every pu- 
pil should be required to be prepared or to lose the lesson, 
or something else which he values. This is the natural pen- 
alty for want of forethought. Let us take care that we do 
not prevent its action by our own mistaken kindness. But 
remember that much forethought is not to be expected in a 
child. 

Perseverance may also be taught by adherence to a good 
system. A child who, every day, at a certain hour, is call- 
ed upon to perform a certain exercise, who is encouraged 
to do more and more without aid, and who, by our system, 
is led to persevere in it regularly for months together, and 
then is led to look back and see how much he has accom- 
plished, has taken a lesson in perseverance and regularity 
which he cannot soon forget. 

The law of Kindness is best taught in the language of 
our Saviour. His commands on the subject should be oft- 
en read, and explained or enforced. Active kindness, doing 
good, is taught by his whole life and death more powerfully 
than it was ever taught before or since his time. The 
Christian law of love should be written on the heart of ev- 
ery follower of Christ, — should be often repeated and con- 
stantly appealed to. If you are not a follower of Jesus, still, 
if you will examine the records of his instruction, you will, 
if there is a stroxig feeling of humanity in your heart, be 
willing to admit that his great doctrine of peace on earth 
and good-will to all mankind is worthy of being divine, and 
that on this point, if on no other, no man ever spake like 
him. If you will calmly and impartially examine tliis ques- 
tion, you will probably be inclined to agree with Lord Bacon, 
in thinking " that there never was found, in any age of the 
world, either religion, or law, or discipline that did so high- 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 347 

ly exalt the public good as the Christian faith." The feel- 
ing and the practice of kindness are to be taught, also, by 
example. This is intelligible when words are not. Cour- 
tesy is the natural fruit of the principle of kindness. It 
needs no great eloquence or acuteness to show that what- 
ever is rude, harsh, unfeeling, or discourteous, is no less of- 
fensive to Christian feelings or principles than it is unbe- 
coming the character and manners of a gentleman. 

Every act observed in school, which is a violation of 
courtesy or kindness, should be remarked upon to the of- 
fending individual, not openly, unless it be very public and 
oflensive, but privately, and in the kindest manner possible. 
Nothing can be more absurdly inconsistent than to reprove 
a violation of this virtue in unkind and discourteous lan- 
guage. It not only fails of its effect, but it gives an exam- 
ple of the opposite vice. An excellent and practicable 
mode of forming the habit of kindness is to place one of the 
younger children in school under the particular charge of 
one of the older. They are to sit together, and the elder 
is, in every way in his power, to aid and encourage the 
younger. He is to show him the use of his slate, to ex- 
plain his difficulties, and stimulate him to exertion. The 
benefit will be mutual, in so far as the studies are concern- 
ed ; and in this way, each one of the more advanced will 
have one individual on whom constantly to exercise his 
kind affections, and each of the least advanced will feel that 
he has one friend in school. 

We should also take occasion to excite sympathy for the 
wretched. The following example, from the work of an 
eminent teacher,* will show how we may avail ourselves 
of such incidents as occur : " It was a chilly day in winter, 
and we were seated in a comfortable schoolroom, when a 
man of wretched appearance was seen passing by, drawing 
a hand-sled, on which were several bundles of rags, the 
remnants of worn-out garments. He was clad in those 
* S. R. Hall, Lectures on School-keeping, p. 103, slightly altered. 



348 DUTIES. 

that were little better, and was apparently so weak as to be 
scarcely able to draw bis sled. Some looked out of the 
window and began to laugh. The instructer told the school 
they might all rise and look at the wretched man who was 
passing by. All did so, and nearly all were excited to 
laughter. After all had seen him, the master told them 
they might take their seats, and then said, ' I was willing 
that you should look at that man, but possibly my object 
was different from yours, as I see the effect on your feel- 
ings was very unlike that which was produced on mine. 
That miserable man, you perceive, is crazy. His bundles 
of rags, which perhaps he values, can be of no use to him. 
You see that he looks pale and emaciated, and so weak 
that he is scarcely able to draw his load. He is very poor- 
ly shielded from the cold of winter, and Avill probably per- 
ish in the snow. Now tell me, should this man excite your 
laughter ? He was once a schoolboy, as bright and active 
as any of you. His return from school was welcomed by 
joyful parents, and his presence gave pleasure to the youth ■■ 
ful throng who met each other for merriment in a winter 
evening. Look at him now ; and can you sport Avith him 
who has lost his reason, and, in losing that, has lost all ? 
Should I point to one of you, and be able, by looking down 
into future years, to say to the rest, your associate will 
be hereafter, like this man, a roaming, wretched maniac, 
would you not rather weep than laugh 1 You saw me af- 
fected when I began to speak. I once had a friend ; he 
was dear to me as a brother ; he was everything I could 
wish in a friend. I have, indeed, seldom seen his equal. 
He could grasp any subject, and what others found difficult 
only served as amusement for him. I saw him after an 
absence of two years. He was a maniac — in a cage, and 
chained. The moment he saw me he seized my hand. — I 
have known sorrow ; have seen friends die that were as 
near as friends could be ; but the hour that I sat by poor 
Bemet was an hour of the greatest anguish I ever knew.' " 



FORMATION OF HABITS. 349 

Mercy to inferior animals is an extension of the principle 
of kindness. There is this to be said of cruelty, that it 
proceeds from ignorance of the feelings of dumb creatures 
as often as from indifference to them. When the amount 
of suffering endured by these animals is pointed out, and 
the imagination is awakened to realize it, the way is prepa- 
red for the removal of the cruelty Avhich is so often exer- 
cised towards them. 

Forgiveness of injuries is the first and natural application 
of the Christian rule, and the seventy times seven of the 
Gospel are not an exaggeration of the extent and univer- 
sality of its application. Another principle of Christian 
doctrine comes in here, in the words of Christ : " If ye for- 
give not men their trespasses, neither will your Father for- 
give yoiu- trespasses."* It is our only condition of forgive- 
ness. Then comes the example of the Saviour in the very 
moment of his agony : " Father, forgive them, they know 
not what they do."t To this we must add our own prac- 
tice. How many times ought we to forgive the violations 
of our own poor and imperfect laws ! 

Charitableness is a far higher, more comprehensive, and 
more difficult duty ; more difficult, because it requires a low- 
liness of spirit entirely at variance with the pride which al- 
most universally belongs to the human heart. Charitable- 
ness is the highest attainment of the Christian.^ Many 
occasions will occur of doing something to recommend this 
virtue. It will often happen that children of different re- 
ligious denominations are in the same school, all of whom, 
vmder the influence of the bigoted and intolerant spirit so 
natural to ignorance, will take it for granted that they are 
right, and those who differ from them are wrong. Nothing 
will diffuse a right spirit among such discordant materials 

* Matthew, vi., 15. f Luke, xxiii., 34. 

t " The greatest of these is charity." — 1 Corinthians, xiii., 13. 
G G 



3S0 DUTIES. 

but the recommendations of charity and the enforcement of 
the Christian command, " Judge not." 

In all these instances we must, I think, teach Christian 
morality. All other codes of morals fall so infinitely short 
of this, that if we, who have been taught of Christ, who 
have read his doctrines and studied his life, would teach 
morality at all, it must be Christian morality. This we may 
do, if we are earnestly desirous of doing our duty, without 
interfering with the subject of religious opinions, upon 
which, by universal consent, it is agreed that the teacher of 
the common school should not encroach. 

Justice, and respect for the rights of property. Justice, m 
its true meaning, is not less comprehensive than charity. 
It embraces what is due to ourselves and what is due to 
others. It demands of me that I should respect the prop- 
erty, the opinions, and the feelings of others. It teaches 
me that I have a right that others should respect my prop- 
erty, my opinions, and my feelings. In this comprehensive 
sense, it is second to no duty in importance. 

It should be taught and enforced in school, both on ac- 
coimt of its intrinsic excellence, and because it can be taught 
nowhere else so well. A school is a miniature community. 
Events are daily occurring in it similar to those which oc- 
cur in society in after-life. It gives wider scope for duty 
than a family, because it embraces a greater variety of rela- 
tions, and thus creates a greater variety of rights. All of 
these are liable to be infringed, and each infringement gives 
occasion for a lesson in justice. It may, moreover, be better 
taught than in a family, because there is one person in a 
school who should always be ready to attend to it. The 
teacher has no higher duty than this. Jle must not let the 
occasion pass by without taking advantage of it. Besides, 
he is, or ought to be, better qualified to teach this virtue 
than many parents. 

It may be better taught in school than from the pulpit, 



JUSTICE. 351 

because it is most naturally and effectually taught by instan- 
ces such as are continually presenting themselves in school, 
and because it should form part of the earliest lessons of 
children, of an age not commonly touched by the instruc- 
tions from the pulpit. 

It rests on the same foundation as the duty of charity, — on 
the great Christian law, " Whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them ;" and to this it 
should always be referred. 

The simplest and most comprehensible application of this 
law is to the rights of property. " Thou shalt not steal," 
should be explained, not only to signify what, in its limited 
sense, it is commonly taken to mean, but to forbid all injury 
done to property. 

Let me give a single instance. 

A teacher often heard complaints of the injury done to 
bonnets, hats, and cloaks, in the entry where they were de- 
posited when the children entered school. Not unfrequent- 
ly a cloak was taken down from its peg, or carelessly 
thrown down, and afterward trampled on, dirtied, and some- 
times torn. To present the matter in its proper light, he 
took occasion, in one of the general lessons, immediately 
after an injury of this kind had been done, to speak of the 
crime of theft. He showed that this consisted in taking, 
without leave, an article belonging to another. " This form 
of the offence," he said, " most of you are in little danger 
of committing ; but a part of the evil of this violation of the 
rights of property is in the injury done to a person by de- 
priving him of his property, and a part in the disappoint- 
ment or vexation which it causes him. Now I have ob- 
served that injury is o^ten done, — not a very great injury, to 
be sure, but an injury which is of some consequence, — to 
the cloaks and hats in the entry. You do not mean to injure 
each others' property ; but, by your carelessness and thought- 
lessness, you do actually violate the spirit of the command, 



352 DUTIES. 

'Thou shalt not steal.' IMaria's cloak, which was thrown 
down and trampled on, is injured. She left it in its place ; 
it was taken away, and she had to lose her time in search- 
ing for it. When she found it, instead of finding it neat 
and clean as she left it, she found it dirty and torn. She 
must have had her feelings hurt. Her property had not 
been taken away, but it had been injured, and she is sub- 
jected to the mortification of wearing home a dirty and 
trampled garment. If it had been my own cloak which 
was so much injured, I should certainly have preferred that 
money should have been taken from my pocket. It would 
have cost me money to have it mended ; and, besides, I 
should have had the additional pain of seeing its beauty de- 
stroyed. None of you will think of taking my money ; and 
yet, whoever throws down and tramples on my cloak, does 
me more harm than if he had taken some of my money. 
Can this be right 1 Is not this violating the spirit of the 
command of which I have been speaking ?" 

In a similar manner may we show that justice requires 
us to respect the feeliyigs of others. 

The greatest defect in the American character, in refer- 
ence to others, seems to be want of respect for superiors. 
This leads to ill manners of every kind ; for children ought 
rather to regard all as their superiors, and to be taught to 
respect them ; and such, doubtless, is the spirit of the morali- 
ty of the Gospel. Every teacher may do much to incul- 
cate a right feeling in children towards their superiors, and 
a simple and modest habit of expressing it. There is no 
difficulty in the matter, except the proneness among teach- 
ers to consider it as something not belonging to them. But 
it is the duty of a teacher to do what he can for the benefit 
of his pupils in every respect, in manners as well as morals. 
They are intimately connected. Good manners are merely 
the outward expression of good feelings and good morals. 



AUTHORITY OF LAW — LOVE OF TRUTH. 353 

and there must be some great defect in the latter when there 
is SO much that is wrong in the former. The real defect at 
bottom is inordinate conceit and want of modesty. Much 
may be done towards correcting this by the example and in- 
structions of a teacher who is himself modest. He should 
inculcate obedience to parents, and respect for the aged and 
for the stranger. 

Submission to the authority of Law. In no part of the 
world is this so important as in these United States. Ours 
is a government of laws. All our people should therefore 
be accustomed, from their earliest years, to submit to the 
authority of law ; to submit, not by compulsion, but volun- 
tarily. This is one strong reason why authority should be 
established, and laws strictly observed, in every school. In 
this respect, school must be a preparation for the society 
of the world. It should be the object of the instructer, in 
his system of government, to form the habit of obeying the 
law because it is just law, and because it is for the common 
good. Such reasoning as the following may be employed : 
You see that, if every boy in school be allowed to leave his 
seat, speak, or whisper whenever he pleases, it will be im- 
possible for any one to study. The purpose for which you 
came here will be defeated, and school will be of no use. 
Order and quiet must therefore prevail ; and that they may, 
and that all may enjoy the great advantages which follow 
from them, each one must consent to give up a portion of 
his liberty. He will gain much more by it than he loses. 
He only gives up the privilege of making a noise when he 
ought to be quiet, and in exchange, he gains the privilege 
of not being interrupted by every one of forty others when 
they please to interrupt him. 

A more fundamental principle to be inculcated is love of 
Truth, and the habit of respecting it. Children should be 
taught, as early as possible, to feel how mean, base, loath- 
some, cowardly, and wicked a thing falsehood is, and how 
Go 2 



354 DUTIES. 

noble, generous, and glorious it is always to tell the truth. 
Nothing is so important to the future character of a child as 
that he should have the right feeling, and, built upon the 
feeling, and growing out of it, the right habit in regard 
to truth and falsehood. The first requisite is that the teacher 
should himself have an abhorrence of falsehood. This must 
be modilied only by his compassion for the weakness of 
childhood, so that he may be able to pardon even a lie. 
Children are made liars by the examples set them from their 
earliest days. They are coaxed by falsehood, by what are 
called white lies, to get up and to go to bed, to go to play 
and to give up their playthings, to give up food and to take 
medicine. They are even coaxed by falsehood into being 
good ! They should never be deceived. No matter whether 
the thing in question be of small or of great consequence, 
they should never be deceived. A promise made to a 
child, like every other promise, should always be religiously 
kept. There is no such a thing as a Avhite lie. Every de- 
ception is a lie, and, if practised upon a child, injures and 
tends to destroy, his moral sense. Such a deception is a lie 
of the blackest hue. 

Another way in which children are made liars is being 
allowed, and even encouraged, by the example of others, to 
use exaggeration, to speak in extravagant language. This 
should be checked whenever the occasion occurs, and the 
falseness and dangerous tendency of it pointed out. Per- 
sons of little conscientiousness will be likely to think such 
practices of slight consequence. But, in forming the con- 
science of a child, they are of very great ; and the suscepti- 
ble conscience of most children may be easily led so to 
regard them. 

Another way of teaching falsehood is by allowing and 
even encouraging children to make promises. On this point, 
the only safe course is that pointed out in the command of 
Jesus Christ, " Swear not at all," which, as is obvious from 



REVERENCE. 355 

its connexion, was intended to forbid light promises, and 
has not, as is commonly supposed, anything to do with pro- 
fane language. The author of this command knew the 
weakness of the heart ; and the more we examine the sub- 
ject, the more fully shall we be convinced that he was right. 
It is very questionable whether cliildren should ever be al- 
lowed to promise — even to be better. 

Children are often driven to falsehood by fear. That 
must be a bad system of government, in a family or in a 
school, which urges children to have recourse to falsehood 
to avoid punishment. The teacher should avoid any ap- 
proach to it, as he should uniformly teach that falsehood is 
worse than any other offence of which children can be 
guilty. 

The most distinguishing characteristic of man is his pos- 
session of the power of reverencing and worshipping the in- 
visible Being who has created and who preserves him. No 
approach to this power seems to be possessed by the brute 
animals. To raise ourselves still higher in the scale of be- 
ing, we must cultivate this power ; and with it is connect- 
ed a reverence for those laws which the Creator has im- 
pressed on all his Avorks. It is the highest conception that 
we can have of the Creator, that he governs this vast crea- 
tion; with all the innumerable classes of beings with which 
it seems to be populous, by wise, just, and merciful laws, 
all made with a perfect knowledge of the infinitely diversi- 
fied relations which connect these beings, and all made with 
a view to the highest good and happiness of each creature. 
And it is the noblest and most elevating idea that we can 
form of man, that he is so created as to be able to find out 
and understand these laws, at least so far as they relate to 
himself and the portion of the universe in which he is pla- 
ced, that he may gradually comprehend their wisdom, beau- 
ty, and beneficence, can perceive them to be worthy of the 
Infinite Being who has appointed them, and, observing and 



356 DUTIES. 

respecting them all as His laws, may rise, througli tliem and 
by means of them, to the spiritual worship of Him who is a 
spirit, and to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. It is, 
therefore, the highest distinction and the most precious priv- 
ilege of man, to be able to worship God, and to do some- 
thing to lead others to worship him and to reverence hia 
laws. This distinction and this privilege, in their widest 
extent, belong to the teacher. It is for him to do and to 
teach. How is he to exercise this great privilege — ^to per- 
form this high duty ? 

First, by the strong and constant influence of his exam- 
ple. He must fill his soul with adoration of the Infinite Fa- 
ther. He must begin every day with God. He must en- 
deavour to live with an habitual sense of his presence, and 
to be a servant of God. This, however really, he may do 
secretly.* He need make no pretensions to sanctity. If 
he feel himself not to be as religious as he ought, he need 
make no professions. In his own heart he may fear and 
reverence him, and strive daily to serve him better. If he 
can conscientiously do it, he ought to commence his daily 
labours in school with an act of worship. If he have no gift 
of language, he can at least utter the Lord's Prayer ; or he 
may use some of the excellent prayers which are prepared, 
and which form part of the worship of many fraternities of 
(yhristians ; or, if he feel that it would be sacrilege in him 
to do so much as this, and he yet feels a reverence for God, 
and acknowledges that it is his duty to express that feeling 
for the sake of others who are looking to him for guidance, 
lot him select appropriate passages from the New and Old 
Testament, and read them as an introduction to his labours. 
In that vast treasure-house of rapt thought and devout aspi- 
rations, he may easily find an expression for his feelings. 

If he be so disposed, and can do it reverently, let him add 
his own thoughts and the expression of his feelings in his 
* " But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet." 



REVERENCE. 357 

own words, or in those which he may have selected as ex- 
pressive of his own. By daily doing or attempting this, he 
will best cultivate his own sentiment of reverence, and, at 
the same time, that of those who hear him. But all this 
must be done seriously and in earnest, else let it not be 
done at all. The deadliest offence against Heaven, against 
his own soul, and against the souls of his pupils, is hypoc- 
risy. 

Eveiy occasion that presents itself in the course of the 
day must be used to awaken and strengthen the sentiment 
of reverence. Formal lectures do no good. There must be 
t\ie feeling of reverence, in whwis said. The wickedness 
of profane language must be pointed out. To do this will 
be enough in the case of the conscientious pupil, in whom 
a reverential feeling is already" excited. But there are 
those "who are below this state, but who have yet what is 
called a sense of honour. To them the vulgarity of profane- 
ness must be shown, and how despicable those are who in- 
dulge in such language. Besides this, the institutions of 
religion should always be spoken of with respect, — the Sab- 
bath, the pulpit, and all that is connected with religious 
opinion ; not only what we ourselves hold to be sacred, but 
what any others deem so. On the subject of religion, we 
should respect the opinions of others even when we differ 
from them. 

The feeling of reverence is now extended to the moral 
laws. It should be also extended to the laws of the intel- 
lect and of the body. ' If we acknowledge God to be the 
author of both, they are all His laws, and to be obeyed as 
such. Here opens a new series of duties for the teacher. 
He is to study these laws, arid to observe and teach them. 
He is to explain them to his pupils, and thus enlighten their 
conscience in regard to them, so that they shall consider it 
no less really a part of duty to keep the body in health, and 
to exercise and improve all the faculties of the mind, than 



358 DUTIES. 

to observe the laws of the Decalogue. I say that a new 
series of duties here opens to the teacher, because most 
persons now speak and act as if they thought that the laws 
that relate to the body and the mind were not God's laws, 
and to violate them were not disobedience to him. What 
is this but saying that the laws of God do not extend over 
his whole creation 1 that they do not embrace the mind 
and body, but the soul only 1 Is it not equivalent to saying 
that the command of Jesus, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with aU thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy strength, and with all thy mind,"* should be understood 
as extending only to thew)ul, an^ embracing neither the 
strength of the body nor the facilities of the mind 1 

I have spoken very seriously, in this chapter, of our du- 
ties as moral teachers. This I am bound to do. I am not 
at liberty to do less. To multitudes of our pupils we are 
the only teachers of moral truth. Unless they get a sense 
of their moral duties from us, they will not get it at all. 
And holding, as I do, that man's moral and religious nature 
is the highest part of his nature, I must hold that a teacher 
has no right to neglect the cultivation of this part of the na- 
ture of his pupils. This is vastly the most important part 
of their education ; the most important to themselves and to 
the community, and for their whole future existence. It is 
more important to a man's self that he should be an upright 
and conscientious man, than that he should be an intelli- 
gent, a skilful, or a learned man. And it is, beyond meas- 
ure, more important to the community, and especially to a 
community like ours. 

A government of laws, such as ours is, must in reality 
be founded on the moral sense of the whole community. 
This, then, must be cultivated and enlightened, or as a 
people we are lost. The common schools are established 
by the people for the greatest good of the people. In in- 
* Luke, X., 27. 



THE teacher's RESPONSIBILITY. 359 

numerable instances, I repeat it, the teachers of the com- 
mon schools are the only persons who have access to the 
young, who can cultivate their moral sense. If this great 
duty be rightly and truly performed, the schools tvill prevent 
the crimes which the courts of justice are established to 
punish. To this the system established in our country 
must lead. 

Every teacher of a common school should understand 
that one chief end for which the schools are instituted, and 
for which he is placed in one of them, is to prevent crime 
by putting an end to moral ignorance mid depravity ; 
" Needful instruction ; not alone in arts 
Wliich to his humble duties appertain, 
But in the lore of right and wrong, the rule 
Of human kindness, in the peaceful ways 
Of honesty and holiness severe." 



CHAPTER IV. 

CULTIVATION OF THE POWERS OF MIND AND BODY. 

" Bodily pain forms a large proportion of the amount of human 
misery. It is, therefore, of the highest importance that a child 
should grow up sound and healthful in body, and with the utmost 
degree of nmscular strength that education can communicate." — ■ 
Lalok 

" The most essential ohjects of education are the two following : 
first, to cultivate all the various principles of our natures, both 
speculative and active, in such a manner as to bring them to the 
greatest perfection of which they are susceptible ; and, secondly, 
by watching over the impressions and associations which the mind 
receives in early life, to secure it against the influence of prevailing 
errors, and, as far as possible, engage its prepossessions on the side 
of truth." — Stewart. 

The next aspect of the teacher's direct duties to his pu- 
pils is that which regards the cultivation of their poweri 



360 DUTIES. 

of mind and of body. I say of body as well as of mind ; 
not that the teacher of a common school can often do much 
directly towards the strengthening and improving of the 
bodily powers, but because it is important for him to keep 
them in view, otherwise he may sometimes allow them to 
be neglected, with injurious, and even fatal consequences. 
Forward and tractable children, especially those of great 
susceptibility and of a delicate constitution, are apt, in every 
stage, at school, as well as at the academy or college, to 
become so much interested in their studies as to be tempt- 
ed entirely to neglect exercise, to forego the enjoyment of 
the air and light, and to abridge their hours of sleep. Here 
are natural laws violated ; and no natural laws are ever 
violated with impunity. Whose business is it to prevent 
this 1 The children, as yet, know nothing of the natural 
laws ; and their parents are often as ignorant as them- 
selves. The teacher must, for he only can, interpose. He 
is responsible for the right education*of the whole nature 
of his pupils, and he cannot shift his responsibility to other 
shoulders.* 

Let me, at the risk of being charged with repeating what 
I have already said, state the particular laws which the 
teacher must see to it that his pupils shall not, so far as de- 
pends on him, violate. ■ 

The first is that which requires active exercise, for two 
or more hours each day, in the open air and by the sun's 
light. 

The second is that which requires that, while the mind 

* Numbers of the most promising young men in our country 
are annually offered up as sacrifices to atone for the violation of 
God's physical and organic laws. In most instances they are inno- 
cent sacrifices — innocent as Iphigenia. They know not the exist- 
ence of the laws which they violate. Who is to blame for this 1 
Who, but the teachers of the schools and colleges at which the 
dreadful immolation is made ! An enlightened public opinion will 
hereafter, if it has not heretofore, hold them responsible. 



PHYSICAL LAWS. 361 

is employed, the body should be at ease, with the feet rest- 
ing fully on the floor, and the back supported. 

The third, that the room occupied by children should be 
at all times supplied with an abundance of fresh air. 

The fourth, that the body of a child should not be kept 
long in one unvaried position ; that he should not only not 
be enjoined, but not be allowed to sit still for more than fif- 
teen minutes at a time if under the age of seven, or thirty 
if under the age of twelve, or an hour at any age. . 

The fifth, that the skin should be kept constantly clean. 

The sixth is that which requires for every child seven, or 
eight, or nine hours of undisturbed sleep in the early part of 
every night, in a well-ventilated chamber. 

The seventh, that an abundance of simple, well-cooked 
food should be allowed every child during the whole period 
of his growth, that is, from birth till the age of sixteen or 
twenty. 

The eighth, that the clothes should be clean and suffi- 
cient, and that the feet, particularly, should be kept warm. 

It may perhaps be said, that in regard to the last three 
the teacher often has no control. True ; but he has always 
an influence, and the observation of these laws Avill be se- 
cured by making them familiarly known to the child. If he 
understands that they are laws of God's enactment, founded 
upon the nature of his bodily constitution, and essential to 
the welfare of the moral and mental faculties as well as 
those of the body, he will learn to respect and keep them, 
and grow up in obedience to them. Thus only will society 
be pervaded with a Imowledge of them. 

But the teacher has to do more directly and entirely with 
the mind ; and whatever may be the opinion of men as to 
his influence upon the other parts of the nature of a child, 
all agree that it is his particular province to educate the 
mind ; to unfold, as far as he is able, all its powers ; to give 
them their appropriate exercise, so that they may have all 
H H 



802 DUTIES. 

the activity and energy of which they are capable, and TO 
place them under the control of their possessor. 

To do this fully would require a complete knowledge of 
the powers of the mind and of the whole art of education. 
This, perhaps, would transcend the power of any man now 
living. Nevertheless, we may each do something, and 
some one, to rise up hereafter, may accomplish all. That 
one may be among our pupils, and it may be our business 
to give him the first impulse which shall carry him towards 
this most desirable end. 

I shall not pretend to do more than to sketch a faint out- 
line of what ought to be done, and leave it to be filled up by 
others more competent to the work. 

If, with a full and philosophical scheme of the several 
faculties of the mind before us, we aim directly at bringing 
out and educating each of them, sepaiately or in combina- 
tion, we shall certainly accomplish more than now is usu- 
ally done. It will soon be seen that there is, in every mind, 
such a thing as the pleasure of exercising its faculties, in- 
dependently of the end for which they are exercised. In 
regard to many of the faculties, this is very obvious in little 
children, and has frequently been remarked. "When they 
are beginning to talk, they evidently delight in the mere ut- 
terance of words, Avithout knowing what they say ; just as, 
when they are learning to walk, they delight to walk, with- 
out knov/ing whither they are to go. How diligendy we 
sometimes see them exercising their vocabulary of numbers, 
when they have just learned to count ! Now we may en- 
large a little upon these indications, and show both the 
pleasure of exercising the faculties, and the means which 
have been found useful in training them. 

In particularizing nid aiTanging the several powers of 
the mind, I cannot follow any of the discordant, and often 
^ ")ntradictory systems of the metaphysicians, but incline 
i.iher to that suggested by the phrenologists, without, how- 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 363 

ever, venturing to pronounce upon the truth or falsity of the 
physiological theory with which it is associated. 

There is, I think, such a faculty or mode of action of the 
mind as that called individuality. It helps us to examine 
individual things without reference to their use. We see 
that children usually delight to exercise their minds upon 
the objects about them. Indeed, it seems to be, in their ear- 
liest years, a great part of their occupation. At the same 
time that they are thus occupied, they usually take notice 
of the form, size, weight, and colour of objects, and, if there 
be several of them, observe their situation, number, and 
order. Now it is certain that children differ considerably, 
and sometimes extremely, in their disposition to examine 
one or another, or all of these particulars ; and as it is in 
these particulars that objects differ from each other, it is 
certainly very important that children should not only be 
permitted, but encouraged, to observe them attentively and 
separately. Most children are much interested in any em- 
ployment which requires the action of the mind in one or 
more of these ways, and I have certainly no doubt that 
the tendency of the mind to these various actions is all nat- 
ural and right ; yet most of what we call idleness and 
inattention in children, is owing to their choosing to occupy 
their mind thus, instead of giving their attention to some- 
thing which we have prescribed, and which is less palatable 
to them. A little pains will enable us to turn this tendency 
to a practical use. 

Geometrical models are interesting to young children, 
and have been recommended by writers on education as 
plajnliings for them. They may be used as something bet- 
ter than playthings, and at once exercise very agreeably the 
faculties which judge of form and size, and be the means 
of giving an acquaintance with important names and shapes 
of things. For this purpose they should be labelled ; and 
an iimocent and useful diversion for children would be draw- 



364 DUTIES. 

ing their figures on a slate. If models cannot be obtained, 
representations of them on paper may be used as a substi- 
tute ; but these are of much less value. 

Still better, especially for children somewhat more ad- 
vanced, would be mineralogical specimens ; and a useful 
exercise would be to direct the attention to their forms and 
angles ; to their weight, in which they remarkably differ ; to 
their hardness, and to their colours ; and to ask separate 
questions in reference to each of these qualities. It would 
be a suitable reward for good behaviour, in elementary 
schools, to be allowed to examine specimens, and ask and 
answer questions upon them. 

Drawing, on a slate or on paper, figures of any kind, or only 
straight and curved lines, is a pleasant and useful occupa- 
tion and exercise, and one which is often a great favourite. 
I have been told by an intelligent teacher that he found no 
other reward necessary in the management of a number of 
boys of various ages, than the privilege of being allowed to 
remain after school, and take lessons of him in dravving. 
He, however, drew with taste and skill. How much better 
such a reward than a medal ! He found no other punish- 
ment necessary than to deprive them of this lesson ! The 
threat was usually sufficient to bring a rebellious boy to sub- 
mission, or an inattentive one to order. Each desk should 
be furnished with a, slate, and, if there are seats without 
desks, slates should be provided for the occupants, so that, 
when they have nothing else to do, they may employ them- 
selves in drawing or cyphering. Much idleness, and vexa- 
tion of spirit in master and pupil, would be prevented, and 
sometliing might be gained, even if no pains were taken to 
direct the child how to use his slate. But if he were fur- 
nished with objects to copy, and assisted and encouraged 
to copy them, many useful ideas and some skill might be 
gained in time which is now worse than lost. 

There are many occasions in which the power of judging 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 365 

of the comparative size and different shapes of bodies is of 
considerable value. Is it not, therefore, worth the w^hile to 
cultivate it ? This may be done, and a familiar knowledge 
of inches, feet, and other dimensions, in lines and surfaces, 
be communicated, by setting children to draw lines, one, two, 
or any number of inches long, and dividing into halves, thirds, 
quarters, or any other portions, and doubling, trebling, or 
quadrupling them ; and by setting them to draw squares of 
one, two, or any number of inches. To do this, it is only 
necessary to encourage them to use their eyes and pencils, 
and to furnish them with lines and squares of the necessary 
dimensions, or with rules wherewith to compare or measure 
their Avork. 

Love of bright colours is natural to nearly all persons, 
There seems to be an absolute pleasure, independent of as- 
sociation or any ideas of utility, in looking at the blue of the 
sky, the white expanse of snow, the gxeen of foliage, and 
the beautiful colours of flowers. Children that have never 
seen the sky, and that cannot possibly have any associations 
with most colours, often testify the liveliest delight in look- 
ing at flowers and other bright objects. Ought not this fac- 
ulty to be cultivated 1 One object of instruction should be 
to teach the correct use of all common words, especially 
those of frequent occurrence. Such instruction is rarely giv- 
en in regard to the names of colours. Yet it is very neces- 
sary ; for any one who will take the trouble to observe, will 
find that there are many colours to which difierent persons 
would give different names, and that there are some to which 
many persons would be able to assign no name at all. This 
defect can only be corrected by making a considerable va- 
riety of colours familiar, and associating them habitually 
with their appropriate names. The list should contain not 
only black and white, and what are called the primary col- 
ours, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, but 
many of the common shades. Of whites, for example, the 
Hh2 



difference between snow-white, milk-white, silver-white, 
greenish- white, and grayish-white, and other varieties, might 
be pointed out ; and among the grays, ash-gray, smoke- 
gray, pearl-gray, bluish-gray, leaden-gray, steel-gray, and 
greenish-gray ; among the reds, brick-red, scarlet, vermil- 
ion, flesh-red, rose-red, peach-blossom, carmine, lake, crim- 
son, cochineal, cherry-red, blood-red, and chocolate-red ; 
among the shades of orange, buff, brownish, and reddish or- 
ange ; among the yellows, golden, sulphur, wax, lemon or 
citron, gamboge, saffron, honey, straw, and ochre ; among 
the greens, leek, verdigris, apple, emerald, grass, sap, bot- 
tle, and olive-green ; the difference between verditer, ultra- 
marine, azure, Prussian, and indigo blues ; among the vio- 
lets or purples, lilach, pansy, lavender ; and the various tints 
called browns, orange - brown, reddish - brown, chestnut - 
brown, yellowish - brown, wood -brown, liver, and clove- 
brown.* Where the teacher has the perception and the 
name of the colours, what an agreeable and useful exercise 
this discriminating of colours, and giving each its precise 
name would be ! It would doubtless enhance the pleasure 
of seeing, and give precision to language. 

In regard to the talent for reckoning, and its cultivation, 
I shall have occasion to speak much at large, in another 
place. It is here only necessary to say that, among many 
hundreds of pupils of both sexes, I have never met with an 
individual who could not be taught most of the difficult 
mental processes in Colburn's First Lessons, and afterward 
most of the sections in his Sequel. If the admirable meth- 
ods which are the foundation of these works were general- 
ly adopted, I believe that nearly all persons could be easily 
taught the science of numbers, though it must be confessed 
that some children find them always difficult. 

Order and method are taught by the general arrange- 

* See Barton's Flora of North America, Advertisement, p. xii.- 
xix. 



METHOD. 367 

ments of the school, by the regularity of the course in 
which studies are made to succeed each other, and by re- 
quiring the observance of exact neatness in the disposition 
of the contents of the pupil's desk, and the placing of his 
hat and coat. These may be regarded as trifling things, 
but they are not unimportant in reference to the habits 
to be formed. Method in business of every kind, on a 
farm, in trades, in commerce, and in studies, is so valu- 
able, that vrhatever tends to communicate it is worthy of 
attention. Love of order should therefore be constantly in- 
culcated, and the practice of it in every way enforced. 
Each study and exercise of school should have a particular 
time assigned it, which should not be departed from without 
sufficient cause. It is comparatively easy for a pupil to be 
prepared for a task which comes as regularly and as cer- 
tainly as the clock strikes the hour ; while all uncertainty 
is a temptation to him to defer preparing himself, and thus 
tends to form the dangerous habit of procrastination. It is 
on account of the importance of these consequences of or- 
der, or the want of it, that I have insisted upon love of order 
as an essential qualification in a teacher. The want of it 
is a great want, and costs himself and his pupils great and 
continual loss and trouble. 

Some extremely valuable suggestions as to the mode of 
exercising the powers of observation and expression may 
be obtained from the account given in Professor Stowe's 
Report on Elementary Instruction in Europe. The follow- 
ing is his account of the occupations in the Prussian schools 
during the first six months, of children from six to eight 
years of age : 

" The teacher brings the children around him, and enga- 
ges them in familiar conversation with himself. He gen- 
erally addresses them altogether, and they reply simultane- 
ously ; but, whenever necessary, he addresses an individu- 
al, and reauires the indiiddual to answer alone. He directs 



their attention to the different objects in the schoolroom, 
their position, form, colour, size, the materials of which they 
are made, &c., and requires precise and accurate descrip- 
tions. He then requires them to notice the various objects 
that meet their eye in their way to their respective homes ; 
and a description of these objects, and the circumstances 
under which they saw them, will form the subject of the 
next morning's lesson. Then the house in Avhich they 
live ; the shop in which their father works ; the garden in 
which they walk, &c., will be the subject of the success- 
ive lessons : and in this way, for six months or a year, the 
children are taught to study things, to use their own powers 
of observation, and speak with readiness and accuracy, be- 
fore books are put into their hands at all."* 

The following may serve as a specimen of the kind of 
accounts to be expected from little children in such a lesson 
as this : When I leave my father's house, on my way to 
school, I come through the gate into the Belleville road. 
Then I turn to the left, and walk under the trees which my 
father has set out before our garden. They are maple and 
hickory trees. The garden fence is very high, so that I can- 
not climb over it. It is made of pieces of wood sharpened 
at top and nailed to joists. The joists have a spike driven 
into them to fasten them to the posts, and the posts go into 
the ground. When I have passed by the garden, I come 
along by the orchard. There are apple-trees and cherry- 
trees in the orchard. Then I come to my Uncle James's 
house, and my cousin comes out to meet me. My Uncle 
James's house is two stories high, and painted white. It 
has four elm-trees before it, and soft grass underneath, 
where we play sometimes, but there is no fence. Nearly 
opposite to Uncle James's, I see the new meeting-house. 
It has a high belfry and a bell. The bell rings at seven 

* Professor Stowe's Report, p. 33, 33. 



FACULTY OF OBSERVATION. 369 

o'clock to call people to breakfast, and at twelve o'clock to 
call them home to dinner ; and on Sundays it rings to tell 
people when to go to meeting. Then I come down the 
hill to the bridge. Above the bridge I see the dam and the 
beautiful water falling over, and on one end of the dam I 
see the long flume that carries water to the sawmiU. The 
savraiill is on the other side of the bridge. There are a 
great many logs before the mill, and the men roll some of 
them into the mill, and the saw cuts them into boards. 
Then I come up the hill, and walk along before Mr. Ste- 
vens's house, and then I get to school. 

" If a garden is given to a class for a lesson, they are 
asked the size of the garden — its shape, which they may 
draw on the slate with a pencil — whether there are trees in 
it — what the different parts of a tree are — what parts grow 
in the spring, and what parts decay in autumn, and what 
parts remain the same throughout the winter — whether any 
of the trees are fruit-trees — what fruits they bear — when 
they ripen — how they look and taste — whether the fruit be 
wholesome or otherwise — whether it is prudent to eat much 
of it — what plants and roots there are in the garden, and 
what use is made of them — what flowers there are, and how 
they look," of what colour they are, and how they smell, 
" &c. The teacher may then read to them the description 
of the garden of Eden, in the second chapter of Genesis ; 
sing a hymn with them, the imagery of which is taken from 
the fruits and blossoms of a garden ; and explain to them 
how kind and bountiful God is, who gives us such whole- 
some plants and fruits, and such beautiful flowers, for our 
nourishment and gratification." 

" The external heavens also make an interesting lesson. 
The sky, its appearance and colour at different times — the 
clouds, their colour," especially towards evening or early 
in the morning ; " their varying form and movements," their 
appearance before rain — " the sun, its rising and setting ; its 



370 DUTIES. 

concealment by clouds ; its warming the earth, and giving it 
life and fertility ; its great heat in summerj and the danger 
of being exposed to it unprotected — ^the moon, its appear- 
ance by night, horned, gibbous, full ; its occasional absence 
from the heavens — the stars, their shining, difference 
among them; their number, distance from us, &c. In this 
connexion the teacher may read to them" portions of the 
eighteenth or the Avhole of " the nineteenth Psalm, or other 
passages of Scripture of that kind, sing with them a hymn 
celebrating the glory of God in the creation, and enforce the 
moral bearing of such contemplations by appropriate re- 
marks. A very common lesson is the family and family 
duties, love to parents, love to brothers and sisters, con- 
cluding with appropriate passages from Scripture, and sing- 
ing a family hymn."* 

By lessons of this kind, the young pupil will not only be 
led to exercise his powers of observation and description, 
but he will be led to form pleasant associations with school, 
and to feel that it is connected, as it ought to be, with his 
life elsewhere and his preparation for the future. A far- 
ther exercise of the observing powers, and of those by 
which we form ideas of objects and events, is provided 
by the study of Geography and History, and requiring the 
pupil to give an account of what he learns, in his own lan- 
guage. These studies, to be interesting and useful, should 
always, as far as possible, be pursued in connexion. The 
study of Mineralogy or Botany, or any other branch of 
Natural History, exercises the powers of observation and 
comparison, at the same time that it cultivates habits of 
method. 

Music. It is a matter of rejoicing to all who are inter- 
ested in the progress of instruction in this country, that Mu- 
sic has already been introduced into so many of the schools. 

* Professor Stowe's Report, p. 33, 34. 



MUSIC. 371 

As was anticipated, the effects are of the most favourable 
character. An art by which so much can be done to soften 
the asperity of the temper, to cheer the heart, and to bring 
the facuhies into a condition favourable to their best action, 
— an art which adds so much to the warmth of devotion, and 
affords an amusement so innocent and elevating, richly de- 
serves cultivation. It may not be possible to introduce it 
into every school, but, when introduced, it affords a most 
useful exercise for the lungs, a delightful resource, and an 
opportunity of unbending from severe and wearying study, 
and resuming it with renewed vigour. If the teacher be 
sufficiently acquainted with music himself, he should teach 
it to his pupils, at least so far as to enable them to join with 
him in a hymn. It would be well, indeed, if every child 
could be taught music. There are few who have not some 
capacity for it, if trained early enough ; and those children 
who have a decided taste and talent for it, learn so readily 
that they will soon become teachers to the rest. There 
are, however, some who are so wanting in the faculty that 
all instruction is thrown away upon them. In all others, so 
delightful a faculty should not be allowed to remain unim- 
proved. If accustomed to sing together in school, children 
will continue the practice elsewhere. A beginning is made 
which will lead to a higher taste, and which will ever after 
be a source of enjoyment. How gladdening, in the poor 
man's cottage or in the rich man's house, is the sound of 
that sweetest of all instruments, the human voice, tuned to 
the wild and simple melodies of childhood's songs, or to the 
rapt strains of devotion ! 

" The loftiest conceptions of the divinity, — the profound- 
est adoration, — the ideas struggling out of the depths of the 
soul, of the power, and beauty, and goodness of God and 
creation, to which language, made up by the senses, seems 
so weak and inadequate, burst forth with the fulness of in- 
spiration in the music of Handel ; and who, with even the 



372 Duties. 

rudest power of appreciation, can listen to those immortal 
strains without being raised into sympathy with the eternal 
aspirations of the highest minds for the spiritual and infi- 
nite ?" 

" In teaching children to sing, the simplest combinations, 
both of poetry and music, should be presented, but they 
should be beautiful as well as simple. The early as- 
sociations are the most lasting. We ought to make them 
beautiful. The songs of childhood should be such as may 
be loved in after life, and may contribute to form a pure 
taste." — Lalor, p. 16. 

The power of expression may be exercised and improved 
by methods already spoken of, and also by the study of lan- 
guage, by committing to memory passages in poetry or 
prose, and by learning rules. Of verbal memory it is not 
necessary to speak very particularly, as it is frequently cul- 
tivated to the detriment of higher powers of the mind. 
Still it is valuable, and should receive a degree of attention. 
It should be a principle, to be observed as far as possible in 
teaching language, not to allow a word to be used before the 
object, action, or idea which it represents is known. The 
study of a foreign or ancient language is not, as is usually 
thought, the mere exercise of the faculty of language or ex- 
pression, — the mere acquisition of words. On the contrary, 
the study of a language, rightly pursued, is a most impro- 
ving exercise of several of the perceptive faculties — of the 
faculty of comparison, on which, in a gi-eat measure, depend 
judgment, and discrimination, and taste, — and of the facul- 
ty which traces causes. It gives constant exercise to the 
power of arrangement, obliges one to get the most precise 
ideas of the object or event he is reading about, in order to 
render it in the most appropriate language, and habituates 
the mind to look before and after. It would be difficult, and 
I have hitherto found it impossible, to find any study so 
well adapted to discipline thoroughly so great a variety of 
faculties. 



REASONING POWERS. 373 

The superior thoroughness of education, and the readier 
and deeper insight, not into words only, but things, and the 
more complete command of the faculties exhibited by young 
persons who have been faithfully drilled in the languages, 
in comparison with those who have had any other element- 
ary education, sufficiently indicates their value ; and we ac- 
cordingly find, that in the Prussian schools they are very gen- 
erally introduced as a discipline and preparation for other 
studies. 

But as the study of languages, especially of the most val- 
uable ones — the ancient languages — is perhaps necessarily 
excluded from a majority of our public schools, it becomes 
us to find the best substitute for it we can. To the teacher 
who has the opportunity and the time, I would again most 
earnestly recommend the study of the ancient languages as 
one of the best possible preparations for an office whose ex- 
ercise so constantly requires an exact imderstanding of the 
various meaning of words, and readiness in the use of them. 

Next to the powers of observation and expression, the 
powers of reflection and reasoning are to be exercised, as 
# indeed they must necessarily be, in some measure, in every 
part of the course. One of the best subjects for the exer- 
cise of these poAvers is, at the same time, one of the great- 
est importance to the future welfare of the child. This is 
the knowledge of the structure and laws of his own body. 
This should be communicated to every child, and should 
therefore be an essential part of every course of education, 
in every school except those for the youngest cliildren. 
The omission of this study in schools heretofore seems to 
be one of the strangest and most surprising facts in the his- 
tory of human absurdity. What can be more absurd than 
to require a boy to be familiar with the constitution of the 
British Empire, when he is ignorant of the constitution of 
his own body 1 Or to teach him the course of the Gulf 
Stream, when he knows nothing of the course of his oAvn 
I I 



374 DUTIES, 

blood 1 Or to make him familiar with mountains on the face 
of the moon, when he knows not that there are such things 
as pores in his own face ? The study is as interesting 
as it is important, and equally to children of both sexes. 
Nothing, indeed, is so interesting to girls ; for they feel, 
while studying it, that they are preparing themselves for 
their own place and duties in life, to be the educators and 
nurses of children, not only in illness, but in health. And 
they see at once what advantages this study gives them in 
forming and securing their own health, and providing for the 
health and welfare, bodily, mental, and moral, of those to be 
dependant on them. 

The points to be communicated to them, on which they 
should be led to exercise their minds, to reason, ask ques- 
tions, trace effects to causes and causes to effects, are the 
laws already laid down for ' physical health. To enable 
them to comprehend these, they should be taught, by familiar 
conversation, the course of the food after being taken into 
the mouth, the function of digestion, the action of the lacteals, 
the course of the blood, — in the lungs, the action of air upon 
it, — through the system, the action of the capillaries, — reno- 
vation of the substance of the body, respiration and the ne- 
cessity of abundant air, the action of the skin, of the pores 
in insensible perspiration, the constitution of the muscles 
and the necessity of their exercise, the nature of the bones, 
and the necessity of strengthening them by exercise, the 
functions of the brain and nenous system, and the action 
and importance of light and air upon its health ; then the 
action of the five external senses, and the manner in which 
we obtain ideas through them. 

As a discipline to the reasoning powers, Geometry has 
from ancient times been recommended. Few persons ca- 
pable of geometrical reasoning have failed to observe the 
advantages to be derived from this exercise. It obliges, 
and thus habituates us to fix the attention, and to follow a 
train of reasoning from beginning to end. Every one may 



REASONIiNG AND nEFLECTlNG POWERS. 375 

derive this benefit from it. A few, perhaps one in a hun- 
dred, or a thousand, require its aid as an introduction to the 
higher mathematics. 

Another good exercise for the discriminating and reason- 
ing powers is Grammar, properly pursued. The common 
process of parsing has little or none of this effect. Indeed, 
it would be difficult to see what good effect it has. 

Natural Philosophy, judiciously taught, gives a great va- 
riety of exercise for the reasoning powers, by showing the 
way in which truths are established and proved, and espe- 
cially for the faculty that looks into the causes of things, 
by tracing back the innumerable phenomena of nature to a 
few great facts and laws. 

A still higher exercise for these faculties will be furnished 
by turning the attention of the child to the powers of his 
own mind, and the processes which are going on within it. 
By observing the operation of his senses, he may be led to 
understand something of the formation of ideas. After hav- 
ing seen a book, for example, he may be made to perceive 
that he has the image of a book, or the idea of a book, in 
his mind, and that he can thus conceive of a book vastly 
larger or smaller than any that he has seen. By being led 
to think how an object or person looked that he had seen 
some time before, he will be made to comprehend that ideas 
formed in the mind may be remembered, and compared with 
each other. By being led to notice, in winter, that his rec- 
ollection of summer is a recollection of warm, long days, 
of making hay, of the singing of birds, and a number of other 
particulars, he may be made to understand something of the 
association of ideas. He may be shown that he can imagine 
a country fuller of pleasant, wild hills, of sunny fields, of wa- 
ving woods, of beautiful flowers and birds, than any that he 
has seen, and thus get the idea of the power by which he 
so imagines, and which is called imagination. In simdar 
ways, many processes of his mind may be made familiar (o 



376 DUTIES. 

him, and he may be shown that he possesses various intel- 
lectual powers. In like manner may he be made aware of 
the existence within him of" propensities, appetites, and pas- 
sions, which are impelling him to action, and that he has the 
power of controlling them all, and bringing them into subjec- 
tion to reason and his sense of right ; that a propensity to de- 
ceive may tempt him to falsehood, but that he has the power 
of resisting, and, notwithstanding the temptation, frankly tell- 
ing the truth ; that appetite for food leads him to eat, still that 
he has power to deny the appetite, to moderate it, or to refuse 
to eat altogether ; that the passion of anger may tempt him 
to injure another, but that his better feelings may overcome 
this, and lead him to abstain from injuring. He may thus 
be convinced that he has an inward power, called conscience 
whose office it is to control the lower part of his nature ; 
that, connected with this, he has a sentiment which leads 
him to reverence the Supreme Being and to observe his 
laws, and a power of resisting evil and persevering in virtue ; 
that he has a faculty which makes him delight in contrib- 
uting to the happiness of those about him, a faculty which 
attaches him to his friends, a faculty which is gratified by 
their approval, and another which leads him to value him- 
self. By thus leading him to reflect on his passions, mo- 
tives, and mental and moral powers, we Aay do much to 
form habits of self-examination and self-control. And we 
may not only exercise the reflecting powers, but lead the 
child to a sense of duty, the duty of counteracting and re- 
pressing whatsoever is evil in his nature, and of strength- 
ening, and enlightening, and yielding to what his conscience 
approves as being right. It may be farther shown, and thus 
a new source of elevating exercises be opened to him, that 
the voice of Heaven, as spoken by Christ, confinns in a 
wonderful manner the decisions of the inward voice of con- 
science. 

The imagination and the love of the beautiful are to be 



IMAGINATION. 3?T 

cultivated by the study of the works of the poets and the 
best of the prose writers. Or, if these be not accessible, 
the teacher who has the elements of taste within himself, 
finds in the many-coloured woods of summer and autumn, 
in the flowers that deck the meadows, the numberless col- 
ours, shapes, and motions of the morning or evening clouds, 
the stars, the ocean, the waterfall, 

" The warbling Woodland, the resounding shore, 
The pomp of groves and garniture of fields ; 
All that the genial ray of morning gilds, 
And all that echoes to the song of even — 
All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields^ 
And all the dread magnificence of Heaven," 
enough to give play to the wildest imagination — to exercise, 
to form, to mature, the taste for the beautiful and the sublime. 
Some of the sublimest strains of poetry that have ever been 
written are to be found among the sacred books of the Old 
Testament. And native to the language are Milton, Shaks- 
peare. Goldsmith, Gray, Young, Thompson, and a host of 
others in England, and Bryant, Percival, Willis, Longfellow, 
Alston, Sprague, and how many more Americans. Select 
portions of the best of these should be committed to mem- 
ory ; but, before it is done, the teacher should take care 
that his pupils understand the sense and feel the beauty of 
what they are to learn, that the exercise may not be one of 
mere words. Farther development will be given to the 
faculty by practice in composition. 
Ii2 



378 



CHAPTER V. 

COMMUNICATION OF KNOWLEDGE. 

" In truth, exact knowledge, science, is the last and noblest frait 
of all this activity of intelligence, of all these acts of thought."— 
L'Instiluteur Primaire. 

The teacher is bound, in the next place, to communicate 
to his pupils, so far as he can, the knowledge which shall 
prepare them for the proper performance of their duties in 
life. 

The statement itself shows that the most essential thing 
for the teacher to do is, to point out to his pupils what those 
duties are, their nature, extent, and obligation. I have at- 
tempted to express, in another chapter, my sense of the 
magnitude and importance of this part of a teacher's duty. 
I shall, in this place, therefore, only recommend a method 
by which a teacher, who has not paid much attention to this 
subject, and who considers himself imperfectly qualified to 
perform it, may, notwithstanding, by devoting a little time 
to it daily, do great good to his pupils. 

Let him begin each day with reading a portion of the 
Scriptures. If he read in course, the most suitable portions 
to read, as simpler and more intelligible and interesting to 
children than the rest, are the Gospels. If he do not choose 
to read in course, the passage for each day should be se- 
lected, if possible, Math reference to the observations he is 
going to make. A person well acquainted with the Bible 
will always find this possible, for there is no point of human 
duty upon which light is not thrown by some part of the Sa- 
cred Volume, though some familiarity with it is necessary 
to enable him to find the most suitable passage. After read- 



COMMUNICATION OF KNOWLEDGE. 379 

ing this, I would have him make a few remarks on some 
particular duty. If he cannot do it without premeditation, 
let him take Dr. Wayland's Elements of Moral Science, or 
some other suitable book, and, by careful and attentive read- 
ing, possess himself of the substance of the portion he is 
about to teach. If he cannot do this, let him study it, and 
read the portion to his pupils, explaining what is not already 
sufficiently clear. He will find that he may explain it all 
in sixty lessons, — that is, in five lessons each week for 
twelve weeks, leaving one morning each week for instruc- 
tion on some subject of duty which presents itself in the 
course of the week. I have generally assigned a single 
section for each, lesson, but less than a whole section where 
it is long. For the first, then, he may give, in his own lan- 
guage, or read, the first section on Moral Law, and ask the 
questions at the end of the section, or such others as occur 
to him. This first section he will probably find the hardest 
in the volume, both for himself and for his pupils. Several 
new words occur in it, and the idea of a law, in the sense 
there given it, is not familiar to children or easy to commu- 
nicate.* It is quite important, then, for him to make him- 
self master of this first lesson, so as to give it in his own 
words, and let them be as simple and familiar as possible. 
For the second, he may show the importance of exercise ; 
for the third, of cleanliness. For the fourth, he may give 
the substance of the second section in Dr. Wayland's book, 
on Intention. 5th, 6th, and 7th, Conscience. 8. Rules for 
jnoral conduct. 9. The conscience which does not reprove. 
lO^^Rules for happiness. 11. Enlightening the conscience. 

* The teaclipr should show that the word laic is used in two very 
different senses : first, to mean a principle which is binding upon our 
conduct, which imposes upon us an obligation to act or not to act ; 
and, second, to express a general fact. The command, " Thou shalt 
not steal," is a moral law, binding upon us ; the fact that all hea^y 
bodies fall towards the earth, is a physical law 



880 DUTIES- 

IS. Defects of natural religion. 13. The New Testament. 
14. How to enlighten the conscience. 15, 16, 17. Duties 
to God. 18. Nature of prayer. 19. The duty of prayer. 
20. Utility of Prayer. If the teacher does not assent to 
these doctrines, he ought not to teach them, but may give 
some other lessons in their place. I say not this as dis- 
senting myself, for I do not ; but to guard the teacher against 
teaching anything formally when he is not sincere in it 
himself. 21. The Sabbath. 22. Christian Sabbath. 23. 
How to observe the Sabbath. 24. Reciprocity of duties. 
25. Love to our neighbour. 26. Personal liberty. 27. Vi- 
olation of it ; 28. by society. 29. Nature of property. 30. 
Violation of it. 31 and 32. Law of property. 33, 34. 
Loans. 35. Insurance. 36. Exchanges. If these last sub* 
jects, or any others, are too difficult for his pupils, and he 
find he cannot explain them so as to make them intelligible, 
he may substitute something else for them. He will find, 
however, that when he perfectly understands these subjects 
himself, he may, by familiar instances, make them under- 
stood by his pupils. 37. Character. 38, 39. Reputation. 
40. Veracity. This is so important a duty that it must be 
brought up often, and earnestly insisted on. 41, 42. Asser- 
tions. 43. Promises. "44. Contracts. 45, 46. Duties and 
rights of parents. 47. Duties of children. 48. Rights. 
49, 50,51. Duties of citizens. 52. Forms of government. 
This should be enlarged upon in teaching Geography. 53. 
Government of the United States. This, also, is to be ex= 
plained in the same connexion. 54, 55, 56. Benevolence. 
57. To the needy. 58. Education. 59. Benevolence to the 
wicked and injurious. 60. To brutes.* 

* If the teacher prefer to connect his teaching with the reading-s 
from the Scriptures, and thus to give them their highest possible 
confirmation and authority, he may use the text-book referred to, or 
others, only to assist him in his thoughts, while he draws his in- 
struotions from meditation on the following or similar passages of 



KNOWLEDGE TO BE COMMUNICATED. 3S1 

He AviU thus have gone over all the most important parts 
of Moral Philosophy, and, if he has succeeded in gaining the 
attention and reaching the hearts of his pupils, he will have 
given them a connected outline of their duties. This, be it 
understood, is instruction in morals, — it is knowledge of duty. 
It is not to take the place of that constant and effectual 
teaching, by example and influence, of which I have spoken 
elsewhere, and which alone can give a deep and abiding 
sentiment of duty. 

A great deal of information may be, and ought to be, com- 

Scripture ; the observations on each passage serving as one lesson, 
to precede which the chapter, or a part of it, may be read. For the 
4th lesson, on Intention, Matthew, xv., 19. 5th, 6th, and 7th. Ro- 
mans, ii., 13 ; Luke, xii., 57. What was the authority spoken of, 
Matthew, vii., 29 1 For the 9th, 1 Timothy, iv., 2. 10th. Ecclesias- 
tes, xi., 9. 11th. All or any of the teachings of Christ. 15th, 16th, 
and 17th, Matthew, xxii., 37; Mark, xii., 30 ; Deuteronomy, vi., 5. 
18th. Matthew, vi., 6. 19th. Luke, xviii., 1. 20th. Luke, xi., 9. 
21st. Exodus, XX., 8, in connexion with Luke, xiii., 15. 23d. Mat- 
thew, xii., 1-8. 24th. Matthew, vii., 12. 25th. Luke, x., 27-37. 
26th. Matthew, xix., 19. Instead of those that follow in the text, 
some of the personal duties may be substituted, if it be thought best. 
27th. Reconciliation, Matthew, v., 23, 24. 28th. Make no promises, 
Matthew, v., 84-37. 29th. Forgiveness, Matthew, vi., 14, 15, and 
xviii., 21-35. 30th. Primary importance of religion, Matthew, vi., 
19-21, &c. 31st. Charitableness, Matthew, vii., 1-5. 32d. Righ- 
teous judgment, Matthew, vii., 16-23. 33d. The duty of cultivating 
all our talents, Matthew, xxv., 14-30. 34th. Economy, John, vi., 
12. 35th. Courtesy, I.Peter, iii., 8. 36th. Giving, Luke, vi., 30-38. 
37th. Causing to offend, Luke, xvii., 2. 38th and 39th. James, iv., 
11. 40th. 1 Timothy, 1., 9, 10, where liars are associated with the 
worst criminals possible; John, viii., 44. 41st. Exodus, xx., 16. 
42d. Self-righteousness, with contempt of others, Luke, xviii., 9-14. 
43d. Humility, Luke, xiv., 7-11. 44th. Purity, 1 Corinthians, iii., 
16, 17. 45th. Theft, Exodus, xx., 15. 46th. Sinning in thought. 
Exodus, XX., 17. 47th. Ephesians, vi., 1. 48th. Charitableness, 1 
Corinthians, xiii. 54th. Luke, vi., 32-36. 55th. Mattliew, v., 43-48. 
56th. Matthew, xxv., 31-46. 57th. Psalm xii., 1. 58th. God the 
author of good, and not of evil, James, i., 13-17. 59th. Luke, v., 35. 
60th. Proverbs, xii., 10. 



382 DUTIES. 

municated in connexion with the reading lessons, and es- 
pecially with Geography. The most suitable for this last 
purpose is knowledge of history and antiquities, and of the 
productions, customs, and other peculiarities of various na- 
tions and countries. Of that I shall speak hereafter. Be- 
sides these, there is a great deal of useful, practical knowl- 
edge, which cannot so easily be introduced incidentally, and 
for giving which some provision should be made. For this 
purpose I would recommend the first exercise in the after- 
noon, or immediately after recess in the forenoon, or at such 
other time as may be found most convenient, to be a gen- 
eral lesson, in which the teacher shall speak for a few min- 
utes on some interesting subject, whereon he shall be pre- 
pared beforehand. The following is a list of subjects for 
sixty lessons. For preparing these, any common book 
of Chemistry, as, for example, The First Principles of 
Chemistry, by Professor Renwick, in the third series of the 
School District Library,* and any one upon Mechanics, like 
the Illustrations of Mechanics, in the second series, will be 
sufficient. 

In the first lesson he may speak of air, its nature, the 
height of the atmosphere, its motion and composition. In the 
second, of oxygen, its importance to life, its action on met- 
als, its entering into the composition of many of the rocks. 
In the third, of nitrogen. Before each of these lessons, some 
questions should be asked in reference to the preceding. 
The fourth may be upon water, its great reservoirs in the 
ocean and in lakes, its sources in the clouds, to which it is 
raised by evaporation, and from which, descending, it forms 
rills, brooks, and rivers, and its composition of two gases 
or airs. 5. Hydrogen, the lightest of things. 6. Carbon, 
the essential portion of all wood, and of vegetable and ani- 
mal bodies. 7. Heat, its sources ; the sun, artificial fire, 
animal life, fermentation. 8; The effects of heat, expand- 
ing all things, changing ice into water, and water into va- 
* Of New York. 



KNOWLEDGE TO BE COMMUNICATED. 383 

pour. 9. Light, its sources ; the sun, stars, fire, violent 
action of solids, its velocity. 10. Its effects on animals, 
vegetables, on man, on his nervous system, and on his 
spirits. 11. Iron, its sources and uses. 12. Copper. 1.3. 
Lead. 14. Tin. 15. Mercury. 16. Gold. 17. Silver. 
18. Zinc, and any other metals. 19. The general proper- 
ties and great uses of metals. In each of these the metal 
itself should be shovi^n, and the pupils questioned in regard 
to its coloiur, brilliancy, hardness, Aveight, &c. In the 20th 
lesson he might speak of acids, of which vinegar may serve 
as an instance, in a diluted state, and show how it turns 
vegetable blues to reds. In the 21st and 22d, he may de- 
scribe the powerful action of the nitric and sulphuric acids. 
23. Common salt, its sources, composition, and uses. 24. 
Animal and vegetable oils. 25. Alkali, potash or soda, or 
both. 26. Soap, hard and soft. 27. Glass, its composi- 
tion of sand and an alkali, with or without metallic ores. 
28. Ink. 29. Dyes. 30. Paints. 31. The saccharine 
fermentation, the formation of sugar in the ripening of 
fruits. 32. Vinous fermentation, illustrated by the making 
of beer or of cider. 33. The acetous fermentation, suc- 
ceeded by the putrefactive. Six lessons upon Soils : 34. 
Silex, flint, or sand, or gravel, the basis of soils ; 35. Clay, 
importance and uses ; 36. Lime ; 37. Vegetable remains ; 
38. Bog earth ; 39. Animal manure. Four on Meteorol- 
ogy : 40. Clouds; 41. Dew, rain; 42. Snow, hail, and 
ice, their causes and uses; 43. Thunder and lightning; 
44. Winds, storms. Seven on Vegetables, for which the 
materials may be obtained from the 19th or 59th volume 
of the School District Library ; 45. Stem and bark of 
trees ; 46. Circulation of the sap and juices ; 47. The 
leaves; 48. The flower; 49. The fruit; 50. Grains and 
roots ; 51. Uses of trees for fuel, shade, ornament, and the 
arts ; 52. Planting trees. Eight upon Mechanics : 53. 
First law of motion ; 54. The second ; 55. The third • 



384 DUTIES. 

56. The three kinds of lever ; 57. The wheel and axle ; 
58. The inclined plane, a plank, a railroad ; 59. The screw, 
a cider-press ; 60. The rope, the pulleys. In speaking 
upon the last fifteen, constant use must be made of the 
blackboard, unless real machinery can be procured. 

Such are specimens of the kind of information that 
should be given. It is not that which is peculiar to any 
trade, but those general truths which are of use in all trades 
and pursuits. It virould be well if a book upon such sub- 
jects could be introduced as a jreading book into schools. 
If there be none, this course of lessons may be a substitute. 

A similar course of lessons of very great value, might be 
made from Andrew Combe's book on Health ; and a third 
from George Combe's book, the Constitution of Man. 

It cannot be too distinctly kept in view that our pupils 
are to be citizens of a free state. They should, therefore, 
be prepared for their duties as citizens by a knowledge of 
the forms of government, of the rights and duties of voters, 
of the formation . and action of juries, of the administration 
of justice, of the great importance to liberty of an absolute 
independence on each other of the legislative, judicial, and 
executive departments of civil government, and of some of 
the most important of the laws. A similar course of lessons 
should therefore be given from Story on the Constitution, 
when a teacher remains from year to year in the same 
school, and has pupils, as he always will have some, capa- 
ble of being benefited by them. 



SOCIAL RELATIONS OF TEACHERS. 385 



CHAPTER VI. 

OF THE RELATION OF A TEACHER TO HIS FELLOW-TEACH- 
ERS AND TO THE CALLING. 

" Conferences of teachers would sufTer no man's experience to be 
lost. Every hint would be taken up and followed out by investiga- 
tion. The resources of each would be drawn out ; and men would 
learn the command of their powers, and the manner of keeping their 
position in society." — Lalor. 

Every man is bound to do something for his calling, 
something to raise its respectability and advance its useful- 
ness. Every teacher can do, and must do something for his. 
If, of the generation now coming upon the stage, each indi- 
vidual could number among his friends but one instructer who 
should be a man of learning and of worth, — intelligent, cul- 
tivated, and refined, just and generous ; one to whom, in pros- 
perity, he would go for the pleasure of his society, in diffi- 
culty for counsel, and in adversity for sympathy and aid, — 
the public feeling towards the teachers of the next generation 
would be very different from what it is now, in many parts 
even of this country. If every individual could feel that there 
was something of great value in his own character which he 
owed directly to the influence of a teacher, something which 
made him a more energetic, and a higher and happier being, 
he would fe^ a respect for that teacher which would nat- 
urally be extended to the class to which the teacher be- 
longed. If he could remember that the happiest days of a 
happy childhood were spent under the eye of a gentle, wise, 
father-like friend, that remembrance of happiness would be 
associated with the image of that venerated friend. If the 
successful man of business could trace the germe of his 
love of order, of his exactness and his despatch, to the haL- 
Kk 



386 DUTIES. 

its instilled by a teacher, he could hardly fail to associate 
him with the sources of his prosperity. If the ripe scholar 
could ascribe to the faithful discipline and influential ex- 
ample of a learned master his having made a right begin- 
ning, 'he would not fail to share with him something of the 
praise of his maturity and distinction. If the devoted man 
of God could remember that his early piety had received an 
upward impulse from the earnest and affectionate urging of 
a kindred spirit ; if the Christian mother, leading her chil- 
dren in the right way, could look back to the time when 
the clear line of her duty was pointed out by one who felt 
that it was a part of his duty to prepare her for the holy 
office of maternity, would that man of God or that Christian 
mother regard teachers with indifference ? 

Is it not, my friends, because Ave do so little of what we 
ought, because we fall so far short of our duty, because we 
do not leave our mark deeply engraved on the character of 
our pupils, that we are not more highly esteemed 1 

To the motives for self-improvement which act on other 
persons, should be superadded, in the teacher, the consid- 
eration that every real advancement in himself will be a 
benefit to all who are to be instructed by him. He is to 
be, whether he wishes it or not, an object of imitation. He 
lives not for himself alone. If he do wrong, he neces- 
sarily teaches others to do wrong; if he accomplish all 
that he should, if he live up to his standard of duty, he 
leads others to do so. Every virtue which he cherishes 
and strengthens in himself is the prolific seed growing up 
into a harvest of virtues in the hearts of his pupils ; every 
vice he indulges will be a sprinkling of tares among the 
wheat. From among his pupils will rise up teachers, who 
will be, in a greater or less degree, what he makes them. 
The first service, then, that he can render his fellow-teach- 
ers and his calling, is the setting to himself a high mark, 
and pressing forward constantly towards it. 



SELF-EDUCATION OF TEACHERS. SSI 

His object should especially be to make himself an ac 
complished teacher. To this end every instructer should, 
if it be in his power, attend some course of instruction par- 
ticularly adapted to educate the teacher, — some normal 
school. At present, this, with most teachers, is impossible, 
as it is only in Massachusetts that schools for teachers have 
yet been successfully established in this country. From 
the department for this purpose successfully attached to 
many of the academies in New- York, he may derive great 
advantages, and, in some favourable instances, most of those 
to be expected from a normal school. But it is only in an 
institution of this last kind, under a teacher whose whole 
time and energies are given exclusively to this object, and 
who has under his control a model school, in which every 
principle of instruction can be illustrated, that all the advan- 
tages of a school for teachers can be enjoyed. It is to be 
hoped that the time will come when many such shall be 
established in this and in every state of the Union. That 
will certainly be the case when the people shall generally 
understand that the education of their children is their dearest 
interest, and that children can be educated in the best possible 
manner only by teachers of the highest possible education. 

Meanwhile, the teacher must make up for the defects in 
his education in the best manner he can. Much may be 
done by a resolute purpose to make his school w^hat it 
should be. Some of the books by which he may be aided 
have been already spoken of. Much benefit may be deri- 
ved from journals of education, such as the Common School 
Journal, edited by Horace Mann, of Boston, Massachusetts ; 
the District School Journal, by Francis Dvv'ight, of Albany ; 
and the Connecticut Common School Journal, by Henry 
Barnard, of Hartford. The character and intelligence of 
these gentlemen, and their devotion to the cause of edu- 
cation, are a guarantee that these journals will continue to 
he of the highest value ; and they will probably continue to 



388 DUTIES. 

receive communications from some of the most skilful and 
experienced teachers. 

A means of great mutual improvement and not a little so- 
cial enjoyment is presented in the meetings of teachers who 
live near enough to make this practicable. Those living 
within five or six miles might agree to meet, and spend an 
evening together, once a week, or twice a month. To make 
the meeting profitable, a plan like the following might be 
pursued. The first half hour might be spent in general 
conversation. Then, for the despatch of business, a chair- 
man and secretary might be chosen, the one to regulate the 
discussions, the other to keep such a record of what was 
discussed, or agreed upon for future discussion, as might 
seem most useful. At each meeting, the following ques- 
tions, or some of them, or similar ones, might be asked by 
the chairman, immediately after the meeting was Called to 
order. " Have you, since the last meeting, read anything 
likely to benefit the teachers here assembled ? What exper- 
iments have you made in managing or in teaching ? With 
what success ? If any school within your knowledge has 
been imsuccessful, what do you take to be the c^use ? Is 
there anything wrong in the present modes of teaching? 
What substitute would you propose 1 Has any new plan 
of teaching or governing occurred to you? How do you 
teach Arithmetic ? How long do you drill your pupils in 
mental Arithmetic before taking the slate ? Have you tried 
the abbreviations in Division recommended in the Teacher's 
Manual, page 158 ? Have you tried the experiment of teach- 
ing to read by words previous to letters ? With what suc- 
cess ? Cannot elementary reading be so taught as not to 
give habits of neglecting the thought ? How do you 
teach your pupils to enunciate perfectly ? How to pro- 
nounce ? How to give the spirit of a passage ? Such a 
person succeeds well in teaching to read ; what is his meth- 
od ? How do you begin to teach writing ? Do you use the 



TEACHERS MEETINGS. 389 

blackboard in teaching to write ? How do you teach spell- 
ing? Cannot the nonsense columns in spelling-books be 
dispensed with ? Are they of any other use than to furnish 
exercises in enunciation ? Cannot the blackboard and slate 
be substituted for other modes in teaching to spell ? Ought 
any word ever to be spelt before its meaning is known 1 
Cannot Grammar be best taught at first orally 1 Have you 
a general lesson ? What hour do you find best for it 1 
Ought not Physiology to be introduced ? What ways have 
you to check tardiness ? Can we dispense with corporal 
punishment in school, and yet secure perfectly good or- 
der 1 How can we check emulation in school, and sub- 
stitute some other ways of exciting to activity not liable to 
objection ? What are the best modes of lending the books 
from the library ? You, Mr. A., are said to have excellent 
order in school, without severity ; what is your secret 1 
Have you any difficulties in school ? Can any one present 
suggest a way of getting over them ? Have you any diffi- 
culty with the parents ? What ought to be done in the case ?" 
It may not be desirable or possible to ask all these ques- 
tions at a single meeting. If not, it may be agreed to begin 
at the next meeting with the unfinished questions. Some of 
them may give rise to discussions of great interest, which may 
occupy several successive meetings. Or it may be thought 
desirable for some one or more to write an essay upon some 
of these questions. Let it be remembered, that the business 
of teaching has yet to be reduced to philosophical principles, 
and that the experience of every one is valuable, and his 
suggestions may lead to improved methods. If communi- 
cations should be made to a teacher's meeting, which they 
find valuable to themselves, and think will be valuable to 
others, they should be transmitted to the Deputy Superin 
tendent, or sent to the editor of some School Journal We 
are engaged in a common cause, and all our efforts should 
be for the commoa good. 

Kk2 



390 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE teacher's RELATION TO THE PARENTS OF HIS PUPILS. 

" What has the teacher to do ? To unfold intellect in varieties of 
character, to harmonize passion with moral principle, — work for the 
most powerful mind, even with the encouragement and co-operation 
of society. But the educator must carry it on, over a thousand ob- 
stacles, and in the face of perpetual oppoeition. He must resist the 
prejudices of parents, desiring evil things for their children ; coun- 
teract the tremendous influence of bad example at home, and be 
able, in the short period of his power, to awaken a love of knowl- 
edge and a sense of right, vigorous enough to hve and struggle 
when the aids of his sympathy and direction are withdrawn." — 
Lalor. 

A teacher's success and usefulness in school, and the 
pleasantness of his position in society, often depend on the 
terms of his intercourse with the parents of his pupils. Af- 
ter a day spent amid the noise, and in the harassing and 
exhausting cares of school, a sensitive teacher is apt to feel 
little inclination for society. His solitary walk or his quiet 
fireside, his garden or his book, is wont to seem more con- 
genial and attractive. In most cases this is a natural and 
reasonable feeling, and he may yield to it until he shall 
have recovered from his exhaustion by seclusion and rest, 
or an employment entirely unlike what has occupied him 
through the day. But he should not shun society. He 
must sometimes meet those with whom he can associate on 
equal terms, and those whom he cannot help regarding as 
his superiors, if he would avoid in himself the offensive ar- 
rogance, pedantry, and self-conceit which are so often the 
ridiculous characteristics of an old schoolmaster. And it 
is only in promiscuous society that his social qualities can 
he exercised, and his manners be refined, and he can learn 



RELATION TO PARENTS. 391 

to sink the peculiarities of the teacher in the better qualities 
of common humanity. 

There are thus great advantages to be derived from society 
which the teacher should not be willing to forego. There 
are others, still more nearly related to his pursuits, of which 
he should never lose sight. Parents are often ignorant of 
what is best for their children, or thwart his plans for their 
good from thoughtlessness or inattention. In such a case 
a teacher has a duty to perform. By showing that he feels 
a sincere interest in their children, he may often, modestly 
and without undue assumption, induce them to take a nearer 
and juster view of their children's welfare, and to accede to 
his plans for their benefit. A few questions to a parent may 
sometimes be sufficient to give his thoughts a right direc- 
tion : " Would it not be better, as your son is to attend 
school but a few months longer, that he should be more reg- 
ular and more punctual ? He now loses one or two days 
a week, and sometimes one hour a day, even when he is 
present. Does he know enough to leave school yet? 
Might he not do something more in preparation for the du- 
ties of life ?" Such questions would come with an ill grace 
from one who was pursuing a mere dull routine, which left 
it doubtful with the parent whether the child were really 
making any preparation for active life ; but very suitably 
from a teacher, who was using every exertion to iinprove his 
pupils' habits, and store their minds with useful knowledge. 
The expression of real interest in a child will never be 
without its effect upon a parent. He will be very likely to 
say to himself, " This teacher is my child's true friend ; I 
certainly must not interfere to prevent his doing him good." 
All genuine feelings are easily communicated. The parent 
will feel, if not say, " Shall this teacher, this stranger, feel 
more and do more for my child than I myself?" The very 
fact that you express a strong desire to have his children 
come more punctually, will be a reason why they should 
come. 



392 DUTIES. 

If you have difficulty in school, and know or have reason 
to suspect, that certain parents encourage their children to 
insubordination, a kind visit, evincing a regard for them and 
an interest in their children, will often completely disarm 
hostility, and change it to a favourable feeling. Sit down 
with them ; laugh, and talk, and make yourself agreeable ; 
show your friendly feelings towards them, and you will 
hardly fail to make them your friends. 

They have sometimes a disinclination to get books for 
their children. Take pains to show them, as you easily 
can, what poor economy this is ; how it wastes the time of 
the child, and deprives him of advantages. 

Parents are often favourably influenced by what their 
children are doing. Many a vicious parent has been re- 
claimed by hearing, from the mouth of a child, the lessons 
brought home from a Sunday-school. For all good influ- 
ences, your school ought to be as good as any Sunday-school 
whatever. Take care that the influence of the children in 
your school shall have a tendency to reform whatever is 
wrong about them. 

Honour your calling. A teacher shoifld not affect to be 
what he is not. Let him be content to be a teacher, and 
in that capacity do what he can. He will find enough to 
do in his own domain, in learning the character and cir- 
cumstances of his pupils, and in adapting his instructions 
to their wants, without interfering in the duties or business 
of others. A source of great mischief throughout our coun- 
try is the common disposition to aspire to places for which 
one is not qualified. Be modest. Guard yourselves against 
the besetting sin of those who have to do only with chil- 
dren, an undue estimation of yourselves. Be religious. 
" Those who consent to live for the service of men who 
neither know nor can appreciate them, must keep their eyes 
steadfastly fixed on Heaven ; that witness is necessary for 
those who have no otlier."— Cousin. 



THE SCHOOL. 393 



BOOK IV. 

THE SCHOOL. 



•' Thus, duties rising out of good possess'd, 
And prudent caution needful to avert 
Impending evil, equally require 
That the whole people should be taught and trained." 

" Earth's universal frame shall feel the effect ; 
Even till the smallest habitable rock, 
Beaten by lonely billows, hear the songs 
Of humanized society ; and bloom 
With civil arts, that send their fragrance forth, 
A grateful tribute to all-ruling Heaven. 
From culture, unexclusively bestowed, 
Expect these mighty issues ; from the pains 
And faithful care of unambitious schools. 
Instructing simple childhood's ready ear ; 
Thence look for these magnificent results !" 

Wordsworth. 

In the previous chapters I have spoken of the general 
qualifications and duties of teachers, and of the objects at 
which they should aim in the discipline and instruction of 
any school whatever. 

In the chapters which follow I shall speak particularly 
of the duties of the teacher of a district school, of the quali- 
fications which are to be deemed essential to their perform- 
ance, and of the manner in which each should be per- 
formed. 

There are four distinct things, or, rather, classes of oper- 
ations, which will command the teacher's attention on first 
entering a school : these are, 

1 . Organization ; 

2. Teaching the great essential branches, Reading, Wri- 



394 THE SCHOOL. 

ting, Arithmetic, Grammar, Geography, Histoiy, Composi 
tion, and Accounts ; 

3. Instruction, or the communication of knowledge ; 

4. Government. 

With these must be combined, in as great a degree as 
possible. 

Discipline, — the training of all the higher powers and 
faculties, moral, mental, and physical ; and 

The formation of proper habits and associations. 



CHAPTER I. 

ORGANIZATION. 

" The general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, 
come best from those that are learned." — Bacon. 

The teacher is to establish a system or organization, the 
object of which is to prevent irregularities, and to save 
time ; to enable him to do as much for each, and for all, as 
possible ; and to exercise each pupil according to his ca- 
pacity and advancement, not overtasking him, nor leaving 
him unoccupied. This system should be comprehensive 
enough to embrace all the operations of the school, and so 
simple that all the children may be able to understand it ; 
so that, when once established, it shall almost keep itself 
in operation, leaving the teacher his whole time for other 
duties. 

To this end it will be a great advantage to a teacher to be 
familiar with the plans pursued in one or more well-organiz- 
ed schools. If he be so, he may at once adopt some known 
system, and leave it to be modified by his future experience. 
If he be not familiar with any, except such as he knows to 
be bad, he must consider the matter, and form one for him- 



ORGANIZATION. 395 

self. The following are some of the things to be provided 
for: 1. General exercises ; 2. The time, order, and length 
of the exercises of the several classes ; 3. Interruptions ; 
4. Recesses ; 5. The punishment of offences. 

I. There should be at least one general exercise, in 
which the whole school should give their attention to the 
teacher, and be instructed by him in those things in which 
it is possible for him to instruct all at once. And as there 
are always some children at school who cannot listen long 
without growing weary, it would be well that there should 
be two such general exercises, both of them short, at one 
of which instruction should be given in duties, and at the 
other, useful practical knowledge should be communicated. 
In the first of these, all the usual delinquencies and faults 
of children at school should be noticed in the most serious 
and deliberate manner, — in such a manner, if possible, as to 
bring the conscience of the children to act upon thera 
At this exercise, also, should be announced the genera, 
regulations of the school. Of both of these exercises I 
have already spoken in Chap. V. of the previous Book. 

The best time for these must be determined by the ex- 
perience of the teacher. As it is important that all should 
be present at them, an hour should be chosen at which all, 
or nearly all, are at school. If tardiness can be prevented, 
the opening of school in the morning is the best time for 
the first, and the opening of school in the afternoon for the 
second. I have found the first hour of the morning best. 
Other teachers have found the time immediately after re- 
cess most suitable. 

II. In determining the time to be given to each particular 
class, in each study, it will be well for a teacher who goes 
into a school for the first time, to direct his pupils to come 
up in such order and in such classes as were formed by his 
predecessor. He will make them understand that this is 
only to enable him to become acquainted v/ith the prog- 



396 THE SCHOOL. 

yess they have already made, and that he shall afterward 
arrange them as he finds it best. It should then be his ob- 
ject to divide them into as few classes in each study as 
possible. This is of the highest importance, as it is only 
by this course that he will be able to find time to give them 
much valuable instruction, or even to do them justice. Ex- 
act justice must be the basis of his arrangement. If he 
have fifty scholars, he will find that, allowing for the gen- 
eral exercise, for recess, and for necessary interruptions, he 
will not have, in a session of three hours, more than 150 
minutes for all the classes. This would be, if they recited 
separately, only three minutes each. If the classes contain, 
on an average, ten each, he will be able to give thirty min- 
utes to each pupil ; and if they contain fifteen on an aver- 
age, the time to each pupil will be forty-five minutes. All 
good instruction is thorough. Time must be taken to ex- 
plain the difficulties in each lesson, and to see that each 
pupil masters them. But the drfficulties may be explained 
to a large class in the same time as to an individual. The 
number of subjects to Avhich the attention of each pupil 
should be given on the same day, should therefore be lew, 
and the classes as large as they can conveniently be made. 
Suppose that Geography, Writing, Reading, Grammar, 
Arithmetic, and Accounts, are to be attended to the same 
day : forty are attending to Geography, all are writing, all 
read, all attend to Grammar, all to Arithmetic, twenty to 
Accounts, — and that all these lessons are to be heard, and 
all the instruction is to be given, by one teacher. He finds 
that he can give an horn- to Geography, half an hour to 
Writing, an hour to Reading, an hour to Grammar, an hour 
to xirithmetic, half an hour to Accounts. He divides those 
learning Geography into two classes, and gives half an hour 
to each class ; the whole school may be engaged in writing 
at once ; the whole may read in four classes, nearly equal, 
and have fifteen minutes each. In Grammar they may be 



ORGANIZATION. 397 

divided into two classes, and have half an hour each ; in 
Arithmetic, all in four classes, fifteen minutes each ; in Ac- 
counts, all may be in one class, and have ten minutes ; there 
are a few who must read a second time ; for each of these 
classes a particular time must be set, so that all may be pre- 
pared, and take their places on the floor when the signal is 
given. I do not propose this as an arrangement to be ac- 
tually made, but only as an illustration of the principle oa 
which the time to be assigned for each exercise should be 
graduated. 

III. The next thing to be provided for in the general plan 
of organization, is interruptions. These, in most schools, 
are, 1. Mending pens ; 2. Giving leave to whisper or leave 
seats ; 3. Explaining sums, and answering questions in re- 
gard to studies ; 4. Tardiness, and hearing excuses for tardi- 
ness ; 5. Punishing offences as they occur. Unless these 
are provided for on general principles, they will be contin- 
ually occurring to harass the teacher, distract his attention 
from the proper exercises of the school, to overwhelm his 
faculties, and wear out his spirits . " Hundreds and hundreds 
of teachers," says Mr. Abbott, in his chapter upon this sub- 
ject, " in every part of our country, there is no doubt, have 
all these crowding upon them from morning to night, with- 
out cessation, except perhaps some accidental and moment- 
ary respite. During the winter months, while the pri'ncipal 
coiiunon schools in our country are in operation, it is sad to 
reflect how many teachers come home, every evening, with 
bewildered and aching heads, having been vainly trying all 
the day to do six things at a time, while He who made 
the human mind has determined that it shall do but one. 
How many become discouraged and disheartened by what 
they consider the unavoidable trials of a teacher's life, ani 
give up in despair, just because their faculties will not sus- 
tain a sixfold task."* 

* For many of the ideas in regard to irregrJarities, I am indebted 
to the chapter above referred to. 



398 THE SCHOOL, 

1 . Mending pens. The teacher should never take school- 
time to make or mend pens. If he choose to do this for 
the whole school, he should do it out of school hours, and 
should bring with him a sufficient number to serve the school. 
These should be distributed just before the time for writing, 
by one or more persons appointed for the purpose. Chil- 
dren should not be allowed to be very particular in regard 
to their pens, but be made to understand that it is important 
that they should early accustom themselves to be content 
with tolerable pens. 

Every pupil sufficiently advanced should be tauffht to 
make and mend pens. This is almost as important as the 
use of them. Some time should therefore be assigned for 
lessons in pen-making ; and to give them the practice which 
alone makes perfect, the duty of making and mending pens 
for the whole school should be assigned to a sufficient num- 
ber of competent pupils, who, after having served a stated 
time, should be succeeded by another set. The pen-makers 
for the time might be allowed to pass among the writers at 
mtervals, and mend such pens as absolutely required it. 

2. Whispering and leaving seats. Some intercourse 
among children in school must be allowed, and occasionally 
it is necessary for them to leave their seats. " How, then," 
asks Mr. Abbott, " can the teacher regulate this practice so 
as to prevent the evils which will otherwise flow from it, 
without being continually interrupted by the request for per- 
mission ? By a very simple method. Appropriate particu- 
lar times at which all this business is to be done, and forbid 
it altogether at every other time. It is well, on other accounts, 
to give the pupils of a school a little respite, at least every 
hour ; and if this is done, an intermission of study for two 
minutes each time will be sufficient. During this time, gen- 
eral permission should be given to speak or to leave seats, 
provided they do nothing at such a time to disturb the stud- 
ies of others." " It, of course, will require some little time, 



ORGANIZATION. 399 

and no little firmness, to establish the new order of things, 
where a school has been accustomed to another course ; 
but where this is once done, I know no one plan so simple 
and so easily put into execution, which will do so much 
towards relieving the teacher of the distraction and perplex- 
ity of his pursuits." 

In making the change, Mr. Abbott thinks it essential to 
get the co-operation of the majority of the school. This 
may be done by stating to them the difficulty, embarrass- 
ment, and loss of time occasioned by the common course, 
and proposing to them the new plan, if they are willing to 
aid him in introducing it. He recommends a rest of two 
minutes at the end of every half hour, during which they 
may leave their seats and whisper ; or it may be three min- 
utes at the end of every hour. 

If a majority be in favour of it, success may be relied on, 
notwithstanding a minority which will probably be against 
it, and which must be dealt with by other methods. A great 
recommendation of thus inviting the co-operation of the stu- 
dents themselves, in this as in many other cases, is, that it 
exercises them in the habit of self-government ; a habit 
which we should, in every way, endeavour to establish in 
our pupils. 

" You cannot reasonably expect, however, that your plan 
will at once go into full and complete operation. Even 
those who are firmly determined to keep the rule, will, from 
inadvertence, for a day or two, hold communication with 
each other. They must be trained, not by threatening and 
punishment, but by your good-humoured assistance, to their 
new duties." " In my own school, it required two or three 
weeks to exclude whispering and communication by signs. 
The period necessary to effect the revolution will be longer 
or shorter, according to the circumstances of the school and 
the dexterity of the teacher. And, after all, the teacher 
must not hope entirely to exclude it. Approximation to ex- 
cellence is all that we can expect." 



400 



THE SCHOOL. 



" In order to mark more definitely the times for commu- 
nication, 1 wrote, in large letters, on a piece of pasteboard, 
' Study Hours,' and making a hole over the centre of it, 
1 hung it upon a nail over my desk. At the close of each 
half hour, a little bell was to be struck, and this card was to 
be taken down. When it Avas up, they were, on no occa- 
sion whatever, except some such occurrence as sickness, to 
speak to each other, but were to wait, whatever they want- 
ed, until the Study-card, as they called it, was taken down." 

" The following simple apparatus has been used in sev- 
eral schools where this principle has been adopted : 



" The figure a a 




a is a board, about 18 inches by 12, to 
be nailed against the wall, at the height 
of about 8 feet ; 5 c (Z c is a plate of tin 
or brass, 8 inches by 12, of the form 
represented in the drawing. At c c the 
metal is bent round, so as to clasp a 
wire which runs from c to c, the ends 
of which wire are bent at right angles, 
and run into the board. The plate will 
consequently turn on this axis as on a 
hinge. At the top of the plate, d, a 
small projection of the tin turns inward, 
and to this one end of the cord m m 
is attached. This cord passes back 
from c? to a small pulley at the upper 
part of the board, and at the lower end 
of it a tassel, loaded so as to be an ex- 
act counterpoise to the card, is attach- 
ed. By raising the tassel, the plate 
will, of course, fall over forward till it 
is stopped by the part h striking the 
board, when it will be in a horizontal 
position. On the other hand, by pulling down the tassel, 
the plate will be raised and drawn upward against the board, 



ORGANIZATION. 401 

SO as to present its convex surface, with the words Study 
Hours upon it, distinctly to the school. In the drawing it 
is represented in an inclined position, being not quite drawn 
up, that the parts might more easily be seen. At d there 
is a small projection of the tin upward, which touches the 
clapper of the bell suspended above every time the plate 
passes up or down, and thus gives notice of its motions." 

The above is recommended as an expedient, the excel- 
lence of which has been tested by experience, to reduce to 
system the necessary communication between children at 
school, and to prevent its being a source of interruption and 
confusion. It may doubtless be introduced with great ad- 
vantage into many schools, especially large ones. 

In an advanced school of a limited number of pupils, sel- 
dom exceeding fifty in one room, I have found no serious 
, inconvenience from allowing two engaged in the same 
studies to sit side by side, and to converse in whisper when 
no class was reciting. The penalty, seldom enforced, of 
abuse of the privilege, was separation. My system, how- 
ever, has been to impose no restraints except such as were 
necessary, and to make school, as far as I could, in all re- 
spects a preparation for life, and, therefore, to induce habits 
of self-control in the midst of temptation. 

3. Explaining suras, and answering questions in regard 
to lessons. If children are at all times allowed to ask any 
questions they please, the teacher will be able to do little 
else than answer them. Some system must therefore be 
adopted in regard to questions. The following directions 
may serve to prevent, in a considerable degree, interruptions 
of this kind. Before assigning any lesson, you should have 
learned it perfectly yourself. You will then easily antici- 
pate the difficulties that are likely to occur, and explain 
them at the time of setting the lesson. For classes in Arith- 
metic, and often in other things, they should be done on the 
blackboard. Still some difficulties remain which you did 
L l2 



402 THE SCHOOL. 

not anticipate. These must be allowed to remain till the 
time of recitation ; and the first part of the time assigned 
for each recitation may be spent in answering questions. 
In this, however, discretion must be used, and the pupils 
must be made to understand how much better it is to sur- 
moimt difficulties themselves than to have them removed. 
While a class is reciting, no questions should be allowed to 
be asked by the rest of the school ; but between each two 
recitations there may be an interval for that purpose. 

To prevent the necessity of answering questions in re- 
gard to the length of lessons, all the lessons for a week 
may be assigned at once, and the pupils be directed to 
mark them, each in his own book. 

4. Tardiness, and hearing excuses for tardiness. To 
prevent tardiness, it may often be sufficient to require the 
individual to remain after school a length of time equal to 
his tardiness. Excuses for tardiness should be heard only 
after school is done. That the tardy may not escape, some 
trusty pupil should be charged with the office of noting all 
instances of tardiness, and reporting them at a suitable sta- 
ted time. 

In some schools in Boston, tardiness is prevented by 
subjecting a child who is tardy to the loss of all his credit 
marks, as if he were absent. In some other towns in Mas- 
sachusetts, rules have been adopted by the school commit 
tee^ to close the door at five minutes past the hour for be- 
ginning school, refusing admission to all who come after- 
ward. To prevent tardiness, however, falls within the 
province of committees and parents. Washington's maxim 
should be imprinted on the mind of all. " Appointments 
are debts. I owe punctuality if I have made an appoint- 
ment, and have no right to throw away another's time, if I 
do my own." 

It would, perhaps, be well to allow the door to be opened 
only every half hour. Those who come late would thus be 



ORGANIZATION. 403 

prevented from distiu-bing the classes. An exact record of 
tardiness and absence should be kept, and exhibited to the 
committee or superintendent. 

5. Punishing offences as they occur. This should sel- 
dom be done. The teacher should have a record-book or 
note-book always near him, and should only note the of- 
fence, and indicate to the offender that he does so. He 
must take occasion at one of the general lessons to speak 
upon it if it be a general offence ; and if it be one that re- 
quires specific punishment, he should deal with the offender 
alone, and some time after the offence is committed. The 
time immediately after school, morning or evening, may be 
assigned for this purpose. 

Another source of interruption occurs in some places, in 
the entrance of visiters. If possible, this should never be 
allowed to prove an inteiTuption, but the business of the 
school should go on as usual. 

IV. The fourth thing to be foreseen and provided for in the 
organization is the Recesses. These should equally divide 
the session, and should be made long enough for all the 
children, each sex in its turn, 'to go deliberately out, take a 
little air, and return. The shortest time to be allowed is 
five minutes for each sex. Ten would be better, as the 
time need not be lost, but may be employed by the teacher 
in attending to matters that need not the presence of the 
whole school. In schools which have a session of five 
hours or more, half an hour's recess is not too long. Ad- 
vantage should be taken of this time to ventilate the room 
by throwing open the windows, unless the room be thor- 
oughly ventilated by some other process. 

V. The fifth thing is Government, and the punishment 
for offences. Of the principles of government we shall 
have occasion to speak hereafter. 

In regard to these several points, the teacher should have 
the principles of his course arranged beforehand. I propose 



404 THE SCHOOL. 

the following plan, to be followed or to be modified, accord- 
ing to the views and experience of the teacher. 

8 o'clock. Children to be in their places at the hour as- 
signed. The exercises to begin with reading a few verses 
from the Gospels or some other part of the Bible, a few 
serious words upon the duty taught, followed by a short 
prayer. 

8h. 10'. First lessons of the morning, prepared the even- 
ing previous, to continue each 10', 15', or 30', according to 
the importance of the lesson and the number of the class. 

8h. 40'. Two minutes for whispering, leaving seats, and 
asking and answering questions. 

8h. 42'. Lessons for 28'. 

9h. 10'. Two minutes rest. 

9h. 12'. Lesson for 28'. 

9h. 40'. Recess for 10'. 

9h. 50'. General lesson on duties and natural laws, 10' 
to 20'. 

lOh. or lOh. 10'. Lessons for 30'. 

lOh. 30' or 40'. Two minutes rest. 

lOh. 32' or 42'. Lessons till 11. 10' for settling difficul- 
ties with individuals. 

A similar course for the afternoon. 

I caimot advise a rigid adherence to any exact course. 
The successive lessons in every branch vary in difficulty 
and in interest. One may be despatched in fifteen minutes, 
and the next will require half an hour. It often happens 
that a class has just become engaged in a lesson when the 
usual time to conclude it arrives. In such a case, it will be 
better to omit the succeeding exercise altogether than to cut 
the one before you short. Valuable instruction is a thing 
rather to be weighed than measured. Still, method and 
regularity are so important in a school, that they should in 
no case be departed from without necessity. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 405 



CHAPTER II. 

INSTRUCTION. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 

" The Art of Educatiox, that noblest but least studied of all the 
arts." — Brown. 

The first inquiries you are to make on entering a school 
are, as has been said, What is the state of this school ? Of 
each of the classes, and of each individual ? How well does 
he read, write, and cipher now? What are his habits of 
mind ? What is his character ? What can I do for him in 
the time he is to remain under my care 1 How shall I 
teach him to read so readily, fluently, and intelligently, as to 
excite a love of reading, which will open to him an inex- 
haustible source of good, and of enjoyment for his whole fu- 
ture life ? How shall I teach him the art of Writing, so that 
it shall be ever after a pleasure to him to Avrite, — both to form 
the letters, and to express his thoughts ? How shall I give 
him such a practical familiarity with the essential rules of 
Arithmetic as shall enable and induce him to apply them 
constantly in his business ? And in performing these es- 
sential parts of a schoolmaster's duty, how shall I give him 
the greatest amount in my power of useful information ; 
bring the faculties of his mind into action, and elevate his 
moral character ? How, in short, shall 1 best prepare him 
for his station in life, and do what in me lies to make him a 
useful citizen, and a good and happy man ? These things 
are to be accomplished, not for one only, but for all. 

Consider, then, the ground before you, and lay your plans 
for doing as much and as well for each and all as can be 
done in the time allotted you. One great object in exe- 
cuting your plans is to discover how to act most efficiently 



406 THE SCHOOL. 

on the greatest number at a time. Your power of useful 
action is increased just in proportion to the number on 
whom you can act at once. Hear what our experienced 
and sagacious friend says upon this point : 

" The extent to which a teacher may multiply his power, 
by acting on immbers at a time, is very great. In order to 
estimate it, we must consider carefully what it is, when 
carried to the greatest extent to which it is capable of be- 
ing carried, under the most favourable circumstances. Now 
it is possible for a teacher to speak so as to be easily heard 
by three hundred persons, and three hundred pupils can be 
easily so seated as to see his illustrations or diagrams. 
Now suppose that three hundred pupils, all ig-norant of the 
method of reducing fractions to a common denominator, 
and yet all old enough to learn, are collected in one room. 
Suppose they are all attentive and desirous of learning, it is 
very plain that the process may be explained to the whole 
at once, so that half an hour spent in that exercise would 
enable a very large proportion of them to understand the 
subject. So, if a teacher is explaining to a class in Gram- 
mar the difference between a noun and a verb, the explana- 
tion would do as well for several hundred as for the dozen 
who constitute the class, if arrangements could only be 
made to have the hundreds hear it." " Now, so far as we 
fall short of this full benefit, so far there is, of course, waste ; 
and it is not difficult or impossible to make such arrange- 
ments as will avoid the waste, in this manner, of a large 
portion of every effort which the teacher makes." 

" Always bear in mind, then, when you are devoting your 
time- to two or three individuals in a class, that you are losing 
a very large part of your labour. Your instructions are con- 
ducive to good effect only to the one tenth or one twentieth 
of the extent to which, under more favourable circumstances, 
they might be made available. And though you cannot al- 
ways avoid this loss, you ought always to be aware of it 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 407 

and so to shape your measures as to diminish it as much 
as possible." — Abbott's Teacher. 

There are several general principles, founded in nature 
and deduced from observation, but too often overlooked, 
which should be our guides in teaching, and of which we 
should never lose sight. 

1 . Whatever we are teaching, the attention should he arous- 
ed and fixed, the faculties of the mind occupied, and as many 
of them as possible brought into action. Nothing is learned 
unless the attention is gained, and the habit of commanding 
it throughout a lesson is more important than the lesson it- 
self, whatever that may be. Moreover, the greater the 
number of faculties engaged upon an object, the deeper and 
more permanent will be the impression. At the end of a 
child's very first lesson, he should be asked, " What have 
you been reading about ?" and should be made to answer. 
This should be uniformly done at every lesson. It turns 
the child's faculties to the lesson, and prevents its becoming 
what it will otherwise be likely to become, almost a merely 
mechanical exercise. 

In order to command the attention, you must awaken the 
interest of the child, and to do this you must first be inter- 
ested yourself. If you feel interested, your manner will ex- 
press it, and you will have that vivacity of mind and of 
manner which are essential to successful teaching. Your 
interest will thus communicate itself to your pupil. You 
must also awaken his interest by beginning with what he 
knows and what interests his feelings, and connecting 
gradually with it what is new or difficult in the subject to 
be taught. You will thus clothe it with agreeable associ- 
ations, and make him desire to loiow what he feels will be 
}»leasant, and enable him easily to remember w^hat has al- 
ready taken some hold of his affections. 

Then you must contrive to give a child somejthing to do 
himself. Engage him in conversation ; lead him to ask, as 



408 THE SCHOOL. 

well as answer, questions ; and be careful not to let your 
own words lose their animation, and become mere lecturing. 

2.'''' Divide and subdivide a difJicuU process, until your steps 
are so short that the pupil can easily take them."* This is 
the secret of that best of all schoolbooks, Colburn's First 
Lessons. It was the great discovery of Pestalozzi. It 
may be applied to every study which is necessary for chil- 
dren ; and teachers differ in no one particular so strikingly 
as in a talent for applying this principle. Some possess 
it almost by intuition. They sit down by a child, and make 
him comprehend almost anything they please, by reducing 
it to its simplest elements, and presenting them one by one, 
in their natural order. This talent may be acquired. It 
depends on a complete knowledge of the subject to be 
taught, in all its bearings, and of the capacity of the child. 
Any one, therefore, who will take the pains to make him- 
self master of what he wants to teach, and to enter into the 
character of the pupil, may be able to attain it. The pos- 
session of this talent is what we call aptness to teach. Its 
exercise requires patience, and a willingness to adapt our 
explanations to the imperfect capacity and limited vocabu- 
la:ry of the child. When, in our explanations, we want to 
use a word which the child does not know, we may do it 
without hesitation if we do it so as to show the child, at 
the time, what the word does mean. 

Suppose you wished to explain to a class this sentence 
in Worcester's Geography, which I select purposely be- 
cause it is the most difficult in the volume for a child to 
understand, and which, therefore, instead of being, as it 
sometimes is, part of a lesson, is quite sufficient for a whole 
lesson, or even several. It aflbrds a very suitable lesson 
for one, or perhaps two or three, of the general exercises'. 

" The annual revolution of the earth round the sun, in 

* Abbott's Teacher, p. 94. 



GENEUAi, PIUNCiI'LES. 409 

connexion with tlie obliquity of the ecliptic, occasions the 
succession of the four seasons." 

The class are supposed to be totally ignorant of what- 
ever relates to Astronomy ; everything must therefore be 
communicated. Those things only can be asked with 
which some of the pupils are probably acquainted. 

Here are several distinct circumstances to be explained 
separately and in simple language. Use must also be made 
of some apparatus ; of two balls to represent the sun and 
earth ; or, if there are none to be had, an orange and an 
apple may take their place. 

The distinct things to be explained are, 

1. What is the succession of the seasons ; 

2. What is the obliquity of the ecliptic ; 

3. What is annual revolution; 

4. The meaning of occasions and the other unusual words. 
" What are the seasons ?" you may ask. " All who 

know may hold up their hands." All hands are up. Some 
individual is told to answer, and says, " Spring, Srnnmer, 
Autumn, and Winter." 

" What is meant by the succession of the seasons ?" 

" First comes Spring ; then Summer ; then Autumn ; then 
Winter." 

" What is the difference in the seasons ?" 

" In Summer it is very hot." 

" And what is it in Autumn V 

" Then it begins to be cold. In Winter it is very cold ; 
in Spring it begins to be warm again." 

" What makes it hot in Summer V 

" The sun." 

" Is it nearer to us in Summer ?" Some of the children 
answer " yes," some say nothing. 

The teacher would say " No. The sun is not nearer 
then than in winter, but he shines more directly upon that 
side of the earth on which we live, which is called the 
M M 



410 THE SCHOOL. 

northern half of the earth. It is that which makes it hot- 
ter. If I hold my hand to the fire thus, directly, you see 
that it is warmed much more than when I hold it thus, ob- 
liquely. Now in Summer the sun shines on our side of 
the earth more directly, which makes it hotter, and in Win- 
ter he shines more obliquely, which leaves it cold. 

" Now, if I thrust a wire through this apple, thus, it may 
represent the earth. The wire projects, as you see, at each 
end, and I can make the apple turn thus on the wire. Just 
so turns the earth round and round continually on its axis, 
only the axis of the earth is not real, — there is no wire 
thrust through it. The hand of God makes it turn on its 
axis ; but the axis is imaginary, — it cannot be seen, — it is 
not real. These ends of the wire represent the poles, only 
there are no real poles to the earth. 

" Let that orange, which is still or stationary on the ta- 
ble, represent the sun. As I move the earth round it, you 
see the wire points always in one direction. Just so the 
imaginary axis of our real earth points always in one direc- 
tion. Now, in this position, this end, which I call the 
northern, is turned from the sun, so that the heat and light from 
the sun fall obliquely upon this part, which represents the 
side of the earth on which we live. This position repre- 
sents Winter ; our side is turned somewhat away from the 
sun, and it is cold here, because less heat falls upon us. 
Now, again, in this position, the north pole is turned just as 
much towards the sun as the south, and it begins to be warm, 
because the heat begins to fall more directly on that part on 
which we live. 

" And now, in this position, when the earth has gone 
half round the sun, you see the north side most turned to- 
wards the sun, and it is warmer on our side, because the 
heat of the sun is more direct. Now it is Summer. 

" Now, again, in this position, the north and south side 
are turned equally towards the sun. It begins to be cold, 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 411 

because the heat of the sim comes less directly, and this is 
Autumn. So, you see, the turning of the earth round the sun 
once in a year, with its axis turned part of the time a lit- 
tle from the sun and part of the time a little towards it, but 
always directed to the same part of the heavens, makes 
first the Winter, then the Spring, then the Summer, then the 
Autumn : and that is what Mr. Worcester means when he 
says, ' The annual revolution of the earth round the sun, in 
connexion with the obliquity of the ecliptic, occasions the 
succession of the four seasons.' For this circle (moving 
the earth round the sun) is called the path of the earth in 
the ecliptic." 

At the next general lesson precisely the same course 
may be gone through, except that now the teacher calls upon 
the pupils to state, as he proceeds, what is the position, and 
what are the consequences of it. For example, having 
reached the point where the children were at a loss on the 
previous day, he asks, " Is the sun nearer to us in Sum- 
mer ?" They are now prepared to say " No ; but his heat 
falls more directly upon us :" and so on to the end of the 
lesson. 

On the third day, if he choose to give another lesson to 
this subject (and it is well worth it), he lets one of the pu- 
pils take the apple and go through the positions, or several 
of them in succession, asking still the same questions, and 
now expecting the whole class to join in the answers. 
This repetition is an illustration of the third rule, which is, 

3. Whatever is learned, let it be made familiar by repeti- 
tion, until it is deeply and permanently fixed in the mind. 
This is an old rule, well known, from the most ancient times, 
to faithful teachers and careful learners. It is, nevertheless, 
liable to be neglected, from a feeling that there is so much 
more to learn which will be entirely new. The faithful ap- 
plication of this principle makes thorough teaching, — the 
best kind of teaching, certainly, since a few things well 



412 THE SCHOOL. 

known are of more use than many things superficially 
glanced at. It is of the utmost importance in the beginning 
of a study, when everything about it is new ; the thoughts 
are new, and require an unaccustomed use of the faculties 
of the mind ; and the language is new as the words of a for- 
eign tongue. The progress of the learner may seem slow 
at first, and so indeed it is, and so it should be. But the 
complete command of the elementary and leading ideas of 
the subject which is thus gained, ensures a rapid, easy, and 
satisfactory progress afterward. When the elementary 
truths and first principles are well-learned and made famil- 
iar, they should be constantly referred to, and the learner 
should be accustomed to trace back to them whatever he 
afterward learns. 

" The exercises which have for their object this render- 
ing familiar what has been learned, may be so varied as to 
interest the pupil very much, instead of being tiresome, as 
it might at first be supposed. 

" Suppose, for instance, a teacher has explained to a large 
class in Grammar the difference between an adjective and 
an adverb. If he leave it here, in a fortnight one half would 
have forgotten the distinction, but by dwelling upon it a few 
lessons he may fix it forever. The first lesson might be to 
write twenty short sentences containing only adjectives ; 
the second to write twenty containing only adverbs ; the 
third to write sentences in two forms, one containing the 
adjective, and the other expressing the same idea by means 
of the adverb, arranging them in two columns, thus : 
He writes well. | His writing is good. 

" Again, they may make out a list of adjectives, Avith the 
adverbs derived from each, in another column. Then they 
may classify adverbs on the principle of their meaning, or 
according to their termination. The exercise may be infi- 
nitely varied, and yet the object of the whole may be to make 
Tperfectly familiar, and to fix forever in the mind the dis- 
tinction explained." 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES, 413 

Nearly allied to this, and the best method of enforcing il 
in many studies, is the rule, 

4. Insist upon every lesson's being learned so perfectly that 
it shall be repeated, as everything in a large school should be 
done, loithout the least hesitation. This must be insisted 
upon in lessons to be repeated from memory, as in lessons 
in the Tables, in Geometry, or lines in poetry. The ob* 
servance of this rule is an incalculable saving of time^ It 
is only by insi-sting strenuously upon it that a single teacher 
can accomplish much in a large school. It cannot, however, 
be safely applied in the case of very young scholars, or be- 
ginners, at any age, as in them the organs and the faculties 
are untrained and necessarily slow. 

A contrasted case may suffice to illustrate its value. In 
a school where the practice is allowed of learning lessons 
and doing things pretty well, a class is called to recite a les* 
son in Geometry. They come straggling along, and at last 
form a line before the blackboard, if that can be called a line 
which is neither straight nor regular. One is called on to 
draw the figure. He has to look into the book to see what 
figure it is, to pause to consider how it is to be drawn, and 
to reflect as to what letters he shall attach to it. A sec- 
ond is called to state the proposition. He does not remem- 
ber how it begins ; begins wrong, is corrected, and obliged 
to begin again ; observes modestly to his teacher, that, if he 
will just give him the first word, he believes he knows what 
comes next. After several blunders, he succeeds in sta- 
ting something like the truth to be proved. A third begins 
the demonstration, and stammers on in uncertainty and con- 
fusion, apologizing by saying, that if he had begun the les- 
son, he could have gone on very well, but that he was con- 
fused by beginning where he did. Thus they limp on te- 
diously, and with great loss of time and patience, and often 
with a hearty hatred of the study. 

What happens in a school where this rule is carried into 
M -A 2 



414 THE SCHOOL, 

practice ? A class is called to recite this same lesson. They 
are at their places at once, and aiTanged in order and silence. 
One is called at random. He knows what he is to do, and 
draws the figure and makes the letters without a moment's 
delay. A second is called. He repeats the theorem. A 
third, with the same alacrity, proves the first case. A fourth 
is called, and proves the second. A fifth states one corol- 
lary, a sixth another. Each one, knowing he is to be in 
readiness, and that he must know what he is to do, takes 
up the recitation at once where his predecessor had left it, 
and the lesson is gone through with thoroughly in less time 
than would have been spent, under the other system, in draw- 
ing the figure or stating the theorem ; and they go to their 
seats delighted with this stimng exercise in a most inter- 
esting study. 

The practice of this rule requires energy in a teacher, 
and creates it in a school. 

5. Present the practical heai'ings and uses of the thing 
taught, so that the hope of an actual advantage, and the de- 
sire of preparation for the future, may be brought to act as 
motives. As soon as a child has learned three words, ho 
should be set to read, or to make a sentence containing 
them. Dwell upon the advantage-^ of a love of reading, 
the resources it gives in a life of leisure and in the weari- 
ness of old age, — the delights of learning, the value of knowl- 
edge. The learner will read well in order to reap these 
fruits, and will thus be prepared to enjoy them. In lessons 
in writing, speak sometimes of the advantage of communi- 
cating with friends in a distant part of the world, — of the 
delights of a correspondence, — the exquisite pleasure of re- 
ceiving a letter from home. 

This principle is often neglected. I have known whole 
books of Geometry to be taught, and even a long series of 
lessons in Trigonometry to be given, without one word of 
the beautiful applications of tlua science in measuring land. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 415 

ascertaining the heights and distances of inaccessible ob- 
jects, and obtaining many of the conclusions of Astronomy. 
For want of observing this rule, it is very common to find 
a person who has been one or two years engaged in the bu- 
siness of life, look back with regret to the neglect of oppor- 
tunities which are gone forever. 

6. Follow the order of Nature in teaching, whenever it can 
be discovered. This is only admitting that God is wiser 
than man, and that all our processes may be im.proved by 
the study of his works. The method hereafter recom- 
mended, of learning to read by words first instead of let- 
ters, is suggested by this rule. 

7. Whe7-e difficulties present themselves to the learner, di' 
minish and shorten rather than remove them ; lead him, by 
questions, to overcome them himself. Tliis gives action to 
his mind, and puts him in possession of its powers. A study 
which has no difficulties soon becomes wearisome, even 
to the indolent, and leaves very faint impressions on the 
mind. What we obtain by a strong efibrt, we value and 
retain. It is not, therefore, what you do for the child, so 
much as what you lead him to do for himself, which is val- 
uable to him. 

This principle should be more and more practised upon 
as the pupil is farther advanced. Where there are not suf- 
ficient difficulties in a subject to excite the action of the 
mind, the teacher may suggest difficulties and raise ques- 
tions, which he may leave to be met and answered at a fu- 
ture lesson. By pursuing this course he will be led to, 

8. Teach the subject rather than the book. Remember 
that it is not Colburn's Arithmetic, or Davies's, which you 
are to teach, but Arithmetic, the science of numbers. Take 
care, therefore, to make yourself familiar with the princi- 
ples, and with their various applications, as you mxay find 
them in several authors, or by reflecting on them yourself. 
For in this way, and in this way only, you will at last get 



416 THE SCHOOL. 

a complete mastery of the science and art in all its forms ; 
and, Avhile you are engaged in the acquisition, it will be in 
the highest degree interesting to you. 

9. Teach one thing at a time. In teaching Grammar, for 
example, show first what a noun is, and let the pupil be 
exercised in this, in various ways, until it becomes perfect- 
ly familiar, before he is even taught the difterence between 
a common and proper noun. Advance thus, step by step, 
making sure of the ground you stand on before a new step 
is taken. 

After all the pains we can take, it will still often happen 
that much which a child is learning he can understand but 
imperfectly. There Ayill still be some things which he 
cannot understand at all. In these cases he should be 
led to distinguish what he understands from what he does 
not, and be encouraged to hope that he will, by reviewing 
and farther study, be enabled to understand better hereafter. 

The following suggestions, under the name of general 
cautions^ are taken from the excellent work so often refer- 
red to.* 

" 1. Never get out of patience with dulness. Perhaps I 
ought to say, never get out of patience with anything. 
That would, perhaps, be the wisest rule. But, above all 
things, remember that dulness and stupidity (and you will 
certainly find them in every school) are the very last things 
to get out of patience with. If the Creator has so formed 
the mind of a boy that he must go through life slowly and 
with difficulty, impeded by obstructions which others do 
not feel, and depressed by discouragements which others 
never know, his lot is surely hard enough, without having 
you to add to it, the trials and sufl^ering which sarcasm and 
reproach from you can heap upon him. Look over your 
schoolroom, therefore, and, wherever you find one whom 
you perceive the Creator to loave endowed with less intel- 
« The Teacher, 



GENERAL PUIiNCIPLES. 417 

leclual power than others, fix your eye upon him with an 
expression of kindness and sympathy. Such a boy will 
have suffering enough from the selfish tyranny of his com- 
panions ; he ought to find in you a protector and friend. 
One of the -greatest pleasures which a teacher's life affords 
is the interest of seeking out such a one, bowed down with 
burdens of depression and discouragement — unaccustomed 
to sympathy and kindness, and expecting nothing for the 
future but a weary continuation of the cheerless toils which 
have imbittered the past ; and the pleasure of taking off 
the burden, — of surprising the timid, disheartened sufferer 
by kind words and cheering looks, and of seeing in his 
countenance the expression of ease, and even of happiness, 
gradually returning. 

" 2. The- teacher should be interested in all his scholars, 
and aim equally to secure the progress of all. Let there 
be no neglected ones in the schoolroom. We should al- 
ways remember that, however unpleasant in countenance 
and manners that bashful boy in the corner may be, or how- 
ever repulsive in appearance or unhappy in disposition that 
girl, seeming to be interested in nobody, and nobody ap- 
pearing interested in her, they still have, each of them, a 
mother, who loves her own child, and takes a deep and con- 
stant interest in its history. Those mothers have a right, 
too, that their children should receive their full share of at- 
tention in a school which has been established for the com- 
mon and equal benefit of all. 

" 3. Do not hope or attempt to make all your pupils alike. 
Providence has determined that human minds should differ 
from each other, for the very purpose of giving variety and 
interest to this busy scene of life. Now if it were possible 
for a teacher so to plan his operations as to send his pupils 
forth upon the community, forme:! on the same m.odel, as if 
they were made by machinery, he would do so much to- 
wards spoiling one of the wisest of the plans which the 



418 THE SCHOOL. 

Almighty has formed for making this world a happy scene. 
Let it be the teacher's aim to co-operate with, not vainly to 
attempt to thwart, the designs of Providence. We should 
bring out those powers with which the Creator has endued 
the minds placed under our control. We must open our 
garden to such influences as shall bring forward all the 
plants, each in a way corresponding to its own nature. It 
is impossible if it were wise, and it would be foolish if it 
were possible, to stimulate, by artiticial means, the rose, in 
hope of its reaching the size and magnitude of the apple- 
tree, or to try to cultivate the fig and the orange where 
wheat only will gTOw. No ; it should be the teacher's main 
design to shelter his pupils from every deleterious influ- 
ence, and to bring everything to bear upon the community 
of minds before him which will encourage, in e.ach one, the 
development of its own native powers. For the rest, he 
must remember that his province is to cultivate, not to 
create. 

" 4. Do not allow the faults or obliquities of character, 
or the intellectual or moral wants of any individual of your 
pupils, to engross a disproportionate share of your time. I 
have already said that those who are peculiarly in need of 
sympathy or help should receive the special attention they 
seem to require ; what I mean to say now is, do not carry 
this to an extreme. When a parent sends you a pupil, 
who, in consequence of neglect or of mismanagement at 
home, has become wild and ungovernable, and full of all 
sorts of wickedness, he has no right to expect that you 
shall turn your attention away from the wide field which, 
in your whole schoolroom, lies before you, to spend your 
time, and exhaust your spirits and strength, in endeavouring 
to repair the injuries which his own neglect has occasion- 
ed. When you open a school, you do not engage, either 
openly o'r tacitly, to make every pupil who may be sent to 
you a learned or a virtuous man. You do engage to give 



READING. 41d 

them all faithful instruction, and to bestow upon each such 
a degree of attention as is consistent with the claims of 
the rest. But it is both unwise and unjust to neglect the 
many trees in your nursery, which, by ordinary attention, 
may be made to grow straight and tall, and to bear good 
fruit, that you may waste your labour upon a crooked stick, 
from which all your toil can secure very little beauty or 
fruitfulness. 

" The school, the whole school, is your field, — the eleva- 
tion of the 7nass, in knowledge and virtue, and no individual 
instance, either of dulness or precocity, should draw j'ou 
away from its steady pursuit." 



CHAPTER III. 

INSTRUCTION. 
SECTION 1. READING. 

" Learning to read is the most difficult of human attainments." — 
Edgewokth. 

A COMMON mode of teaching the letters has been to point 
them all out in succession, at each lesson, until they were 
learned. This is a slow and bad way. The impression 
of each letter on the mind is erased by that which is shown 
next. A better way is to show a child only one or two let- 
ters at a lesson, give their names very distinctly, speak 
about their appearance, and let him look at them until he 
can distinguish them and call their names. They may be 
on blocks of wood or on pieces of pasteboard, and the child 
may be sent to bring them to you, directed by the name, 
until he is familiar with them. One may be added at each 
lesson, but care must be taken that he does not forget either 
of those he has already learned. Each child should be 



420 THE SCHOOL. 

furnished with a slate and pencil, and when he has learn- 
ed a letter, he may try to draw it on the slate ; and he 
should be encouraged to persevere until he can make some- 
thing like it. When he has learned the small letters, he 
may learn the capitals, and afterward the italics. 

If no blocks or printed letters on pasteboard are to be 
had, the letters may be drawn, an inch or more long, on a 
blackboard or slate, and the child be allowed to learn and 
copy them. When he has learned a letter, he should be 
encouraged to find it in a book. What are called the abs 
should never be allowed to be learned, as they mean no- 
thing, are of no use, and have a tendency to accustom a 
child to read without using his understanding. 

A better way of learning to read, much and successfully 
practised of late, is to let children learn words first, and af- 
terward the letters of which they are made up. This is 
Nature's method. A child learns to know his mother's face 
before he knows the several features of which it is compo- 
sed. He learns what a dog is, before he learns what ears, 
hair, teeth, and paws are ; and what a cradle is, before he 
knows Avhat the sides, back, and rockers are. 

The following excellent directions as to the first steps in 
reading by this method are from the Teacher's Manual, page 
113: 

" Worcester's Primer is an admirable little book for be- 
girmers. We shall use it, therefore, as our First Book. 
Commencing with a child ignorant of his letters, we should 
turn to page 15, where we find pictures of a man, a cat, a 
hat, and a dog, opposite the corresponding names, in capi- 
tals as well as in small letters. The teacher may com- 
mence thus :* 

" Teacher. What is that ? 

* " In order that what follows may be fully understood, the reader 
should have a copy of the Primer before him, and turn to the pages 
indicated." 



READING. 421 

" Child. A mail. 

" T. That is the picture of a man. Would you not like 
to know the word man ? 

" C. Yes. 

" r. (^pointing to the word). There it is. Look at it 
well, that you may know it again. Now do you think you 
shall know it ? 

" To this question the child generally answers yes. 

" T. {turning to page 17). Which of these words (point- 
ing to man, dog, cat) is man ? 

" Unless the child has been brought up in habits of atten- 
tion by his parents, his heedlessness will be apparent by 
his ignorance of the word. And this will generally be the 
case. So, turning back to page 15, the teacher can say, 

" J\ You are wrong. See, it does not look like that. 
You should give more attention. Look at it again (page 15 ; 
trace the form of the Avord with a pointer). Are you sure 
_you will know it now ' 

"C. Yes. 

" Most children will now know the word. But a few will 
be found so heedless as still not to have given afiy atten- 
tion. With these there will be some difficulty. But, as 
soon as their attention can be caught, the instant one Avord 
is known, the spell is broken, and all will go smooth. Per- 
severe with the first word. If you cannot succeed in the 
first lesson, give him two, three, four. Have a little pa- 
tience. In some favomable moment you will gain his at- 
tention, and the difficulty then is over. Such is the testi- 
mony of many teachers. 

" One word is enough for the first lesson. And now 
comes an exercise which must always, «;i7/jo«< one solitary 
exception, follow reading. There must be no excuse for 
want of time. The teacher must take time, whatever else 
he may slight. 

'* T. What have you been reading about? 
Nn 



42S THE SCHOOL. 

" C. About a man. 

" At the second lesson, see if he can still point out the 
word man (page 17) ; if not, repeat, as before. But if he 
knows it, show him the next word, and say, that is cat. 
There is no occasion to make farther use of pictures for 
the present. Turning again to page 17, 

" r. Which of these words (man, cat, hat) is cat ? 

" When he knows this word, conclude, as before : 

" T. What have you been reading about to-day 1 

" C. A cat. 

" T. Nothing else ? 

" C. Yes, a man. 

" By a similar process, the other seven words will readily 
be learned by the child. But it is scarcely possible to re- 
peat too often, in this stage of education, that a minute ex- 
amination of the child as to what he has read must be 
gone into at the close of evert/ lesson. No excuse can be 
admitted unless the house be on fire, or tumbling about 
your ears. Should the teacher find there is not time, the 
lessons may be made shorter, or fewer given per day. 
Three a week, with questioning, are of far more value than 
twenty without. The development of the faculty of attert.- 
tion, the formation of a habit, is all-important. If that be 
done early, there will be no difficulty in educating the child. 
It ought, then, to be commenced at the frst lesson, and 
never, for a moment^ be lost sight of during the whole course 
of education." 

Common significant words should be selected, such as 
dog, my, dear, and repeated in different arrangements, dear, 
dog, my, — dog, dear, my, until he can distinguish them per- 
fectly, and put them together to make sense. He should, at 
the same time, be taught to pronounce the words distinctly. 
He has thus the satisfaction of reading, — of seeing the use 
of his learning, from the beginning. To make them still 
more familiar, he should bo set to look for the words in a 



READING. 423 

page where they are to be found, and to copy them on his 
slate. A word may be added each day ; and he should be 
led to amuse himself and exercise his ingenuity by making 
as many sentences or parts of sentences as possible of his 
words, and by writing them on liis slate. When he has 
become familiar with a good number of words, and is con- 
vinced of the usefulness and pleasantness of reading, he 
may be set to leai-n the letters. This he will do with in- 
terest when he knows that by means of therri he will soon 
be able to learn to read by himself, without help. 

He should not yet, if ever, be set to learn words which 
he cannot understand, but only such as will occupy* at the 
same time his mind and his eyes. Various books for chil- 
dren may be found, made according to this method. Such 
are Worcester's Primer, now much used in Massachusetts, 
and My First School-Book, by Mr, Bumstead, of Boston, 
and Mr. Gallaudet's. In these, and such as these, his read- 
ing by means of words should be continued ; and he should 
never be allowed to spell the words, by sounding the names 
of their letters, for the purpose of finding out the pronuncia- 
tion.* If a child be never allowed to read what he cannot un- 

* The absurdity of this course is placed in a very striking light by 
the author of the Teacher's Manual : " Let us, then, candidly in- 
quire whether it be really necessary ' to spell before we can read ;' 
whether, in fact, spelling, that is, naming the letters, be of any as- 
sistance whatever. 

" Commencing with the elementary syllables, then, ab, eb, ib, &c., 
let us carefully note the sounds of their constituent letters, and, 
joining them, observe whether they have any resemblance to the 
sounds of the syllables : thus, a, b, will be found to make aibee ; e, 
b, to make cebee ; i, b, eyebce ; o, b, obee ; and u, b, youbee. Now 
what resemblance is there between the sounds aibee and ab ; cebee 
and eb, &e. 1 Evidently none. 

" The same discrepancy will be found to exist on comparing the 
Bounds of words with those of their constituents. For instance : be- 
fore a child is allowed to read the word bat, he is directed to say 
bce-ai-tee ; before cat, sce-ai-tee ; mat, emm-ai-tee ; rat, ar-ai-tee ; sat, 



424 THE SCHOOL. 

derstanJ, he avlII never form those bad habits of reading, call- 
ed school reading, now so nearly universal. I have known 
several children, taught to read by their mothers on the 
principle of never reading what they did not understand, 
Avho always, from the beginning, read naturally and beauti- 
fully ; for good reading seems to be the natural habit, and 
bad the acquired. 

Reading intelligible books should alternate with writing 
on a slate. This is the best possible substitute for spelling, 
which, therefore,' as a separate exercise, should not be yet 
begun. Time must not be wasted on spelling yet, as it is 
important, as early as practicable, to let a child learn to 
read fluently, that he may be able to occupy himself with 
reading, and be prepared for all the other parts of his edu- 
cation. 

At this period in his progress, that is, when he can read 
easy books readily, and even before, columns of words may 
be sometimes placed before him, not to be studied, much 
less to be spelt, but to furnish him Avith words of which to 
make sentences on a slate. The words hen, men, pen, 

ess-ai-tee ; and, before he is allowed to pronounce u-hich, he is re- 
quired to say doubleyou-aitch-eyc-scc-aitch ! But, lest it should be 
supposed that an unfair selection of words has been made, in order 
to place the subject in a ludicrous point of view, let us examine a 
line with which we are all familiar— the initiatory sentence in 
Webster's old spelhng-book : 

'"No man may put off the law of God.' 

" The manner in which we were taught to read this — and this 
manner still prevails in most of the schools — was_ as follows : 

" En-no, no, cmm-ai-en, man, emm-ai-wy, may, fee-you-tee, put, o- 
douhlc-eff, off, tee-aitch-ce, the, dl-ai-doubleyou, law, o-eff, of, gee-o- 
dee, God. 

" A^Tiat can be more absurd than this 1 Can we wonder that the 
progress of a child should be slow, when we place such unnecessarj' 
impediments as these in his way 1 

" The fallacy on this subject lies within a nutshell. It arises 
wholly from confounding the vnmes with the pmcers of the letters."" 



READING ENUNCIATION. 425 

ten, for example, ma; be introduced into such sentences as, 
my hen has chickens ; I put her in a pen ; there were ten 
men in the house. If, at every step of reading, the use of 
the slate and pencil be allowed, writing, and reading, and 
composition will go on, hand in hand, in natural progress, and 
will be gradually acquired, improved, and perfected togeth- 
er. There is one caution, however, to be observed in the 
use of the slate and pencil. They should be always taken, 
away from a child before he becomes weary of them ; and 
their use should daily be granted as a privilege. 

If all persons about a child habitually enunciated dis- 
tinctly and pronounced correctly, he would seldom have oc- 
casion to learn either enunciation or pronunciation as a sep- 
arate exercise. This, however, is far from being the case, 
and lessons should now be given for the double purpose of 
exercising the organs of the voice, and of teaching full and 
perfect enunciation. These may safely be pursued for a 
short time at once, without danger of inducing the habit of 
reading without thought, as the effort to enunciate perfectly 
will sufficiently occupy the mind. 

There are two excellent works containing suitable exer- 
cises for this purpose ; one is Russell's Lessons on Enun- 
ciation ; the other. Tower's Gradual Reader. The former 
has long been tested. The latter has been recently intro- 
duced into the Boston schools with the best effects. The 
teacher ought to be furnished with one or both of these 
From them, with the aid of the blackboard, he might giv6 
all the requisite instruction. It would be still better if the 
pupils also could be furnished with them.* 

The first series of exercises should be all the sounds of 
the vowels and consonants, uttered separately, and after- 
ward in combination, and continued until each should be 

* If the teacher have neither of these, an excellent substitute may 
be furnished by the Key in Worcester's Dictionary, which he must 

Nn2 



426 Tin: school. 

most fully and distinctly enunciated. These exercises may 
be conducted somewhat in this manner : A word contain- 
ing the sound to be practised upon, fate, for example, may 
be written on the board, and fully sounded, first by the 
teacher, then by one or more individuals, then by the whole 
class simultaneously, uttering a sound as loud and full as 
possible. Then the letter a, may be written by itself, after 
fate, and sounded in the same manner. Then a series of 
words, ale, name, save, mate, &c., may be written, and 
each of them sounded in the same strong, full manner. 
Next, let a w^ord containing a second sound, man, be writ- 
ten, and sounded by the whole class ; then a by itself, and 
a series of words containing the sound, mat, can, plan, be- 
gan, &c., to be sounded as before. Care shoidd be taken 
that, in sounding the a, the true sound, as heard in man, be 
given, and not the na?nc sound as heard in fate. And af- 
terward, wherever it occurs, the pupil should be taught to 
call it a, and not a. This principle, carried out with all the 
soimds of all the vowels, will much improve and simplify 
the process of spelling. 

When the class shall have gone through all the vowel 
sounds, a similar exercise may be given on the consonants. 
This is still more important in reference to the two objects 
now in view, viz., training the vocal and enunciative organs, 
and forming the habit of perfectly distinct enunciation. 
Write the word rob, and after requiring all to utter it forci- 
bly, utter, and make them utter, as forcibly as possible, the 
final consonant sound, b, distinct from the vowel sound. 
This, in the case of several of the consonants, is very diffi- 
cult, but becomes more easy as the organs become accus- 
tomed to the effort ; so that it rarely happens that, of a 
whole school, any one is incapable of sounding each of the 
consonants by itself.* Care should be taken, as before, 

* The assertion that the consonants cannot be sounded without 
a vowel, is simply, as was long ago shown by Dr. Rush, false. In 



UEADING — PROiNUKCIATION. 427 

that the name of the letter be not mistaken for its sound. 
In c, for example, the sound is sometimes the initial sound 
of key, and sometimes the initial sound of see, but never 
the name sec. After all the sounds of the letters are thus 
obtained, and can be distinctly and correctly given, the class 
should be practised almost daily in a table formed by taking 
the short sound of each of the vowels, next combining it 
with each of the consonants in succession, and next utter- 
ing the consonant sound by itself. Thus, 

a, ab, b ; e, eb, b ; I, ib, b ; 6, 6b, b ; u, lib, b. 

a, ak, k ; e, ek, k ; T, ik, k ; 6, ok, k ; u, uk, k, &c. 

The most difficult of the vowel sounds to get perfectly 
are the delicate sound of a in branch, fast, &c., which 
should be an intermediate sound between the a in far and 
the a in man ; the true sound of e in fern and of i in virtue ; 
and the full compound sound of w in tune, similar to that in 
situation, which may be easily uttered by making it a sep- 
arate syllable. 

The most difficult of the consonants to utter distinctly 
without a vowel sound, are k, p, and t. But even these 
may form separate sounds. The next most difficult are b, 
d, and g. 

After the class has become accustomed to utter the sounds 
of the letters instead of their names, they may be accus- 
tomed to spell in this manner. This will make the busi- 
ness of spelling incomparably more easy and natural. It 
must not, however, even in this improved form, be allowed 
to take the place of many other things more important. 
Let the learner never, at any period of his progress, waste 
his time upon spelling-lessons. The proper, and the only 

the final syllables of such words as hidden, sickle, &c., there is no 
vowel sound. See the Philosophy of the Human Voice, by .Tames 
Rush, M.D., for a very full and philosophical analysis of the sounds 
of the language, and the functions and powers of the voice. 



428 THE SCHOOL. 

perfectly proper way of learning to spell, is by writing the 
words on slates or on paper. 

After the simple sounds, exercises should follow in the 
most difficult combinations of consonants ; such as those in 
didst, width, rafts, mangl'dst, shak'st, prompt, canst, re- 
turn'dst, and similar words, on which an excellent series of 
lessons may be found in the Gradual Reader already refer- 
red to. It is by such exercises, daily resumed, but never 
continued long at once, that the organs of the voice are 
trained, and perfect enunciation, the most important element 
of reading, speaking, and, in no slight degree, of thinking, is 
gradually acquired. 

Correct pronunciation is to be gained only from a teacher 
who understands the principles, and from a good dictionary. 
As soon as the pupil is old enough to use a dictionary for 
this purpose, he should be furnished with Worcester's. The 
marks used to indicate the sounds of the letters should be 
explained to him, and he should be encouraged to consult 
it in every case of doubt. 

If, through all the exercises that have been described, 
care has been taken always to examine the pupil upon the 
meaning of what he has read, the foundation will have been 
laid for reading in a natural and intelligent manner. Many 
of the faults will thus have been avoided which it is usually 
a considerable part of the duty of the teacher to correct. 
Still, very much more is necessary to make an accomplish- 
ed reader. The teacher must be a good reader himself. 
If he be so, and endowed with a clear understanding, good 
taste, and quick feelings, he will be able to make good read- 
ers of his pupils. In any case, he will derive much assist- 
ance from a good treatise on Reading, such as Dr. Porter's 
in the Rhetorical Reader. From some such source he 
must obtain a knowledge of the rules of emphasis, and the 
inflection and modulation of the voice. Having made this 
preparation to teach, he must give the class an idea of the 



READING INSTRUCTION. 429 

manner in which a passage is to be read by reading it him- 
self. Good reading is a commentary upon a passage, and 
is oftentimes the only thing necessary to explain its mean- 
ing. When, however, a passage is difficult to understand, 
and the class not far advanced, the teacher should give them 
the substance of it in his own familiar language, and when 
they understand it, read it properly in the language of the 
passage. Such an explanation is usually better than merely 
explaining the words singly. 

The reading lessons should be the vehicle of vastly more 
of information than they commonly convey. The well-pre- 
pared teacher may make them the occasion of much useful 
instruction, by talking to his pupils upon subjects suggested 
by the reading-lesson, and, by interesting them, may lead 
them to desire to read for themselves upon the subjects, and 
induce them to pay more attention to the lessons. It would 
be well if the teacher would daily look forward to the read- 
ing exercises of his classes, and ask himself what useful 
fact, or interesting narrative or anecdote, he can call up, to 
arrest their attention or to supply them with materials for 
thought. Our common reading-books contain selections 
from orations. How much additional interest will the 
teacher give, by telling something of the occasion on which 
one of them was delivered, and the effect it produced. 
Some of the selections are from histories. By a few intro- 
ductory words, he may show what was the state of things 
to which the passage refers, and by putting them into the 
current of histoiy, prevent it from being to them a mere in- 
sulated fact. Satan's Address to the Sun loses half its sub- 
limity to one who has not read the previous portions of the 
Paradise Lost ; and how much more moving does the beau- 
tiful passage beginning " Hail ! holy light !" become to the 
child who knows that they were uttered by one who had 
worn out his eyes and his health in noble exertions for lib- 
erty and truth. 



430 THE SCHOOL. 

It must be admitted that many of the selections in our 
reading-books, — vapid Fourth of July oratory, extracts from 
deep treatises, philosophical discussions, and refined criti- 
cism, — are poorly adapted to prepare the children of citizens 
for the great duties of their situation in life. But, unfitting 
as they seem, they may be made far more useful than they 
commonly are, by suitable explanations from an intelligent 
and well-informed teacher. 

It is not uncommon to find children who have been taught 
to read at home, in books which they could perfectly under- 
stand, and who consequently read naturally, giving all the 
intonations of animated conversation, change this habit for 
the stiff", monotonous, lifeless style called school-reading, in 
a short time after being sent to school. This they do from 
being set to read lessons which they do not understand. 
This the teacher should take pains to avoid ; and if there 
be pieces in the reading-book, as must often be the case, 
which his pupils cannot vmderstand, and which he has no 
time to explain, pass them by, and read again and again the 
intelligible and useful lessons. Books that have few such 
should be exchanged for better. The reading-lessons should 
be such as not only to form the voice, to educate the taste, 
and serve as suitable models for composition, but to furnish 
food for the mind, materials for present thought and future 
action. In how many instances, in our schoolbooks, might 
the vagaries, speculations, and declamations of scholars, 
philosophers, and politicians, be exchanged for descriptions 
of the useful and essential things in God's great and beau- 
tiful creation. 

SECTION II. SPELLING. 

" The pupils ought not to be tasked and annoyed with the absurdi- 
ty of that laborious and generally abortive exercise, learning to 
BPELL." — Simpson. 

I HAVE already spoken of the manner in which this should 
be taught, in the early stage of learning to read. In every 



SPELLING. 431 

stage we should avoid, as the bane of good habits of thought, 
the common use of the nonsense columns of a spelling-book. 
Nothing more pernicious could be contrived. The use of 
them prevents thinking, without teaching to spell. 

Still there are numerous anomalies in English which 
must be learned from a spelling-book. After the child has 
learned to read well and fluently, a spelling-book should be 
placed in his hands, and his attention particularly directed 
to the difficult combinations. These are admirably well 
presented in Wm. B. Fowle's spelling-book.* The simple 
words will have already become familiar, and time need not 
be wasted upon them. The whole attention should be given 
to the difficulties. What these are every teacher must 
judge for himself. It will depend upon the skill with 
which the pupils have been taught to use their slates in 
learning to read and write. When a lesson has been as- 
signed, a feAV minutes may be appropriated for reading it 
over carefully. Examination in it should be conducted in 
various ways. One is putting out v/ords successively to 
difierent individuals. When this is practised, care should be 
taken never to begin twice in succession with the same in- 
dividual, and to keep all on the lookout by calling on those 
who are in different parts of the class, leaving it always 
uncertain who will be called next. This mode, however 
practised, costs much time. An agreeable mode of vary- 
ing it will be to let the whole class spell simultaneously, 
in measured time. This is good for the voice, and, if care 
be taken to detect those who spell wrong, and such as de- 
pend on the rest, may be often very useful. 

A much better way is for each child to have a slate be- 
fore him, and write each word as it is put out. When all 
the words are written, the slates may be passed up, one of 

*THE COMMON SCHOOL SPELLER, in which about 14,000 
words of the English language are carefully arranged according to 
their sound, form, or other characteristics, so that the difficulties of 
English orthography are greatly diminished, and the memory of the 
pupil is greatly aided by classification and association. Published 
by Fowle & Capen. 184 Washington St .Boston. 



432 THE SCHOOL. 

thera be examined by the teacher, and the others by the 
class, no one examhiing his own slate. 

A still better way is to give out sentences to be written 
containing the difficult words, or, rather, to give out the 
words, and require the pupil to make sentences including 
them. They thus become fixed in the memor}"- so as nev- 
er to be erased. The objection that will be made to this 
course is the time which it takes. When, however, it is 
considered that by this exercise not only is spelling taught, 
but writing and composition, and all of them in the way in 
Avhich they ought to be taught, that is, in the way in which 
they will be used, the objection loses its weight. As spell- 
ing is usually taught, it is of no practical use ; and every 
observer must have met with many instances of persons 
who had been drilled in spelling nonsense columns for 
years, who misspelt the most common words as soon as 
they were set to write them ; whereas, a person taught 
in the way here recommended, may not, in a given time, 
go over so much ground, but ho will be prepared to apply 
everything he has learned to practice, and he will have 
gained the invaluable habit of always associating every 
word with a thought, or an idea, or a thing. 

SECTION III. GRAMMAR. 

" We think we shall do the public preceptor an acceptable service 
if we point out Vie means by which parents may, without much la- 
bour to themselves, render the first principles of grammar intelligi- 
ble and famihar to their children." — Edgeworth. 

In connexion with reading and spelling, Grammar may 
be taught ; but, if taught to any except the most advanced 
pupils, it must be taught orally. The following method, 
suggested many years ago by Warren Colburn, whose tal- 
ent for teaching other things was almost as remarkable as 
that shown in his works on Arithmetic, has been tried with 
eminent success in very many schools in Massachusetts, 
particularly in the excellent schools ot' the city of Lowell. 



GRAMMAR. 433 

It is incorporated into his series of elementary reading- 
books,* among- the veiy best, certainly, for teaching Gram- 
mar and Reading that have ever been made. Mr. Colburn 
did not make the use, here about to be recommended, of the 
slate in teaching Grammar. This is an obvious advance 
upon his method, which must have suggested itself to any 
one who had long made much use of the blackboard. 

Mr. Colburn thus introduces the subject, in the Preface 
to his First Lessons in Reading and Grammar. " When 
the scholars have read this book through two or three times, 
and are able to read it with considerable fluency, the teach- 
er may explain to them what a noun is, in a familiar, easy 
way, like the following : ' Every word that is the name of 
anything is a noun. The words John, Mary, man, woman, 
boy, girl, horse, dog, chair, table, book, &c., are nouns : 
not the things themselves, but their names, are nouns.' 

" Children will very soon understand this. They may 
then be required to select the nouns in some of the senten- 
ces which they have read during the day. They will soon 
do this readily, and be interested in it. They will be like- 
ly, at first, to call some of the pronouns noims. If they do 
so, they may be allowed to do it. They will easily learn 
the distinction at the proper time. iThey should be exer- 
cised in this way for several days, or even weeks, if neces- 
sary, until they can readily tell all the nouns in any sen- 
tence in the book without mistake." 

It will be more interesting to them, and, in the end, short- 
er and more effectual, to set them to write these words on 
their slates, making thus a practical exercise in writing, 
spelling, and grammar. They may also be encouraged to 
make a list of nouns from the names of the objects about 
them, or from the things elscAvhere, and thoughts with Avhich 

* " First Lessons, Second Lessons, Third Lessons, Fourth Les- 
sons in Reading and Grammar, &c. By Warren Colburn." Bos- 
ton. Published by Hilliard, Gray, *& Co. 
Oo 



434 THE SCHOOL. 

they are familiar. This elementary exercise in composi- 
tion will be found a useful one. 

" When they are able to do this," proceeds Mr. Colburn, 
" some of the distinctions may be explained as follows : 
' Names of particular persons or things are called proper 
nouns ; as Thomas, David, Sarah, Jane, Lightfoot, Towser, 
&c. Names applied to sorts or kinds of things, comprising 
several individuals, are called common nouns ; as man, wom- 
an, boy, girl, fish, tree, stone,' &c. Let them be exer- 
cised in this distinction," both in their books and on their 
slates, " until they are familiar with it, and then teach the 
distinction of number in a way like the following : 

*' Observe that we say ' one boy.' What do we say when 
there are two of them 1 Do we say ' two boy V The 
scholar will probably answer ' No ; we say two boys.' 
Then say, ' Write boy ; write hoys. What difference do 
you observe V Again, we say, * one hat.' Do we say ' two 
hat V Write hat ; write hats. What difference do you ob- 
serve ? Do you make any difference between two hats and 
three hats V 

" Propose several words in the same way. Then make 
them observe that it may be adopted as a general rule, that 
when a noun expresses more than one thing, the letter s 
must be added in spelling it. 

" Then tell them that, when the noun expresses one sin- 
gle thing, it is said to be in the singular number ; and when 
it expresses more than one, it is said to be in the plural 
number." 

A similar course may be pursued with all the parts of 
Grammar, taking care to observe our 9th rule, Teach one 
thing at a time. 

The blackboard is a valuable auxiliary in this process. 
In teaching the formation of the plural, for example, the 
following rule may be written distinctly on the blackboard : 
" When the noun ends in a?, ch soft, sh, or .<f, and sometimes 



GRAMMAR. 436 

in 0, add es to form the plural, as fox, foxes, ^ &c. With 
this before them, let them write on their slates all the words 
they can think of or find to which this rule applies. The 
same may be done with the other rules for forming the plu- 
ral. Gender may be explained and rendered familiar in a 
similar manner, and, next, the use of s with an apostrophe, 
as .John's hat, to signify possession. But nothing needs ever 
be said of cases. 

Mr. Colburn next recommends that children should be 
taught to parse thus : " ' Frank went into his father's gar- 
den.' Frank is a proper noun, of the singular number and 
masculine gender. Father's is a common noun, of the sin- 
gular number and masculine gender. It has an apostrophe 
with the letter s added to it, to express that the garden be- 
longs to the father. Garden is a common noun, of the sin- 
gular number, and of neither gender. The scholars should 
be made to parse briskly, and to tell all the distinctions 
without being questioned. The teacher should frequently 
ask the reasons for the distinctions, but seldom more than 
one at a time." 

The pupil may next be taught, orally, what an adjective 
is, and then the degrees of comparison, being made to prac- 
tise on his slate, on each thing taught, till it becomes per- 
fectly familiar. Next in order are the article, the pronoun, 
its various kinds, with exercises on the slate to render fa- 
miliar the use of all the kinds, and all of what we call the 
cases. 

Next the verb may be explained. Write on the black- 
board any sentence containing several verbs ; point them 
out ; show that they all signify action or being ; and then say 
that " a verb is a word which signifies doing something, or 
sometimes simply being.'''' 

In the sentence, ' David rides upon his horse, and holds 
his reins in his left hand, and carries his stick in his right 
hand, and his little dog runs along by his side,' the words 



436 THE SCHOOL. 

in italics are verbs. They signify action ; that is, they rep- 
resent David and his dog as doing something. 

" Whenever Frank did anything wrong, he always told 
his father and mother of it ; and when anybody asked hira 
about anything which he had done or said, he always told 
the truth. For Frank was a brave boy, and dared always to 
tell the truth. But Robert was a coward, and lied.''^ 

In this sentence, the words in italics are verbs, as they 
signify doing something, or behig. 

When, by exercises on the slate, the class has become 
perfectly familiar with verbs, so as to be able to distinguish 
them in every sentence read or uttered, what is meant by 
agent or actor may be explained. They must then be re- 
quired to tell the agent of the verbs in their reading lessons, 
and to write sentences in which the verbs have agents. In 
the sentence, " Frank ran for his basket and began to pluck 
the pods," ran is a verb, because it signifies doing some- 
thing, and Frank is the agent, because he is the one that 
does it. Began is a verb, and Frank is the agent for the 
same reasons. Pluck is a verb, because it signifies doiTT 
something, but it has no agent. N.B. — When a verb has 
the word to standing before it, it has no agent. 

The difference between transitive and intransitive verbs 
may next be explained. This may easily be shown, to- 
gether with the fact that the transitive has an object, while 
the intransitive usually has none, or it requires some word 
between it and its object. In the sentence, " The water 
flows," the verb flows has no object. In " George rides 
upon a horse," the word upon shows the relation between 
the verb rides and the noun horse. 

The learner may then be set to select the transitive 
verbs in a page and write them on his slate ; and, next, the 
intransitive verbs in like manner. He may afterward be 
directed to make up sentences containing the agent, transi- 
tive verb, and object, and others ; at separate exercises, coii 



GRAMMAR. 4S7 

taining agents and intransitive verbs. Much time, many- 
days, and perhaps weeks, may be required to be given to 
these exercises, on account of their great importance. 

Prepositions may be then explained, and similar exerci- 
ses be given to make their use familiar. These may be 
followed by exercises on the various times of verbs ; dis- 
tinguishing at first only the three great divisions, past, pres- 
ent, and future, but in subsequent lessons marking the 
times particularly. ' 

At this point in the progress of the learner, a book may 
be introduced containing a catalogue of the irregular verbs, 
and the variations of mood, number, and person, which, 
however, must be made familiar by appropriate exercises 
on the slate. Adverbs, conjunctions, interjections, will 
form the subject of subsequent exercises ; after which may 
be introduced punctuation, and the use of marks and cap- 
ital letters. 

The above is not offered as a system of Grammar, but 
only as indicating the true natural method by which any 
system of Grammar may be taught. Neither is it intended 
to take the place of that instruction in the analysis of sen- 
tences,* which must be given as a complement of the rules 
of Grammar, for the purpose of showing the dependance 
of the parts of a sentence on each other. Something of 
this may be found essential to the best instruction in reading. 

The whole time occupied in these exercises will not be 
so great as that commonly devoted to the acquisition of 
adroitness in the process of parsing. The difference will 
be obvious. The most adroit parser is often unable to 
write a single sentence grammatically. The pupil who 
has gone through with a course of such exercises as have 
been described, will have a familiar practical acquaintance 
with every principle of Grammar. 

* Valuable hints in the analysis of sentences will be found in 
Hazen's Grammar. 



438 THE SCHOOL. 



SECTION IV. WRITING. 

" Writing must bo zoalously practised according to the briefest 
and best system yet adopted, and the pupil habituated gradually to 
write do'wii words on his slate." — Simpsox. 

If the directions above given for learning to read be fol- 
lowed, the pupil will, from almost the very beginning of his 
course, have occasion to write. He must therefore be taught 
as early as practicable the written characters. This will 
be a natural and almost necessary step with the teacher, 
who makes the use he ought of the blackboard. For this 
purpose, the child must be taught the italic letters, and shown 
that the written characters difl'er from them only in certain 
particulars, and that more convenient forms are substituted 
for/, g, s, and z. The constant use of the pencil and slate 
will be the best possible preparation for the use of the pen. 
And the pupil, long accustomed to their use, will acquire 
almost necessarily those most important requisites in wri- 
ting, legibility, rapidity, and compactness. 

When paper and a pen are substituted for the slate and 
pencil, pains should be taken to form correct habits of hold- 
ing the pen. The following directions, from the Teacher's 
Manual, are worthy of being observed. " Every child should 
be shown how to hold and move his pencil, and how to sit 
at his desk while writing, as soon as he enters school. The 
body should have a regular slope from the seat to the crown 
of the head ; no bend. The seat should be so far back as 
to allow of this position. The left arm should rest on the 
desk. The right should rest on a point a little below the 
elbow, the little finger slightly touching the desk, but not 
pressing on it. The pen or pencil should lie on the second 
finger, and be held, not too firmly, by that finger and the 
thumb. The forefinger should rest on the pen or pencil, to 

keep it steady The motions shoidd be" principally 

*' made with the forearm. The downward motions should be 



WRITING. 439 

all parallel The ends of the r, o, v, and w should not 

descend, lest they degenerate, as they are very apt to do 
with rapid writers, into n, a, and u. For the first Aveek or 
two, the teacher, standing or sitting where he can see all 
the writers, should keep a constant eye upon them, to see 
that all the positions and movements are steadily kept. 

" The first beauty in writing is legibility. Everything 
should give wav to this. Flourishes may be useful in giv- 
ing freedom of hand, but they should be practised by them- 
selves, and never introduced into writing, least of all in a 
signature. The plainer the Avriting, the more difiicult to 
covmterfeit it." 

The next beauty is compactness. So far as is consist- 
ent with perfect legibility, the greater the nurnber of letters 
taken in by the eye at a single glance, the better for the 
writer and for the reader. 

The style of writing should, in the next place, be such 
as is capable of great rapidity of execution. The round 
text hand, formerly so common, and so beautiful as an ob- 
ject of art, is objectionable on accoimt of the time required 
to execute it well. For the purposes of the man of business 
and of the scholar, a ready, simple, and swift nmning hand 
is very important. Such a style will be the natural conse- 
quence of the constant use of slate and pencil in writing. 

If to this quality it be thought advisable to superadd that 
of elegance of shape in the letters, they may be analyzed, 
and the elements given in distinct lessons. These should 
be carefully formed on the blackboard, to be imitated by the 
class in their books. The first lesson may be the straight 
line, the important element in the letters h, k,p, and q. The 
second may be the straight line with the curve at the bot- 
tom, the most important element, as it occurs in fourteen or 
fifteen letters. The straight line with the cm-ve at the top 
is an element in three letters ; that with the curve at top and 
at bottom, of seven. The o is also an element of seven ; the 



440 THE SCHOOL. 

end of the r of four ; the j of three. Then there are the ir- 
regular characters c,f, k, s, x, and z. 

In giving lessons in writing on the blackboard, it is well 
to represent several characters, one giving the letter and its 
element just as it should be, the others exemplifying the 
usual mistakes that are made in forming it. The compari- 
son of these will teach the pupil how to avoid what is faulty, 
and form his eye and his hand to what is most correct and 
beautiful. When all the letters can be correctly formed 
and joined together in current hand, practice only is neces- 
sary to make good writers. This may be given in copying 
well-written or engraved slips, and still better, by requiring 
all written exercises to be neatly and carefully performed. 
In using a copy-book, let them write at first only on the left- 
hand page, and after having gone thi-ough the book, begin 
again, and write on the opposite page. They can hardly 
help desiring to make this better than what they had writ- 
ten some Aveeks, perhaps, before. 

SECTION V. DRAWING. 

" Drawing is no more than writing down objects." — Simpson. 

I HAVE already spoken of ability to draw as a desirable 
qualification for a teacher. One who has this talent will, 
almost as a matter of course, desire to communicate it to 
his pupils. And one who cannot draw himself, may do 
something towards forming a taste for it by allowing and en- 
couraging his pupils to use the pencil in drawing horizontal, 
vertical, and oblique lines, and various regular geometrical 
figures, such as triangles, squares, and circles, and copying 
pictures of any kind. 

Every child should be taught the elements of drawing in 
lines, or linear drawing, if for no other reason than the ad- 
vantage it gives in learning geography. But there are sev- 
eral other advantages in it, even in childhood. It affords 
an iimocent and interesting occupation for children during 



DRAWING. 441 

many hours not otherwise occupied in school ; and if ac- 
quired there, will serve the same piu-pose at home. It gives 
exactness to the eye, and the power of judging correctly of 
the dimensions of magnitude. It gives skill to the hand, 
and to the mind the power of appreciating beauty of form ; 
and is thus an element in a cultivated taste. Its after uses 
are still mere numerous. It enables one to understand at 
once all drawings of tools, utensils, furniture, and machin- 
ery ; and plans, sections, and views of buildings ; and it gives 
the power of representing all these. It is essential to the 
skilful execution of the plots, plans, and drawings of the 
surveyor and engineer. It enables the naturalist to repre- 
sent the plants or animals of which he wishes to convey a 
correct idea, and the traveller of- taste to bring home to his 
friends a vivid image of the natural objects or striking views 
which have presented themselves to him. By the help of 
a little skill in drawing which he had acquired at school, 
but which he had never taken an hour from more impera- 
tive duties to cultivate, a missionary returning from Pales- 
tine brought back, among other things, in a thin portfolio, a 
view of Moimt Lebanon as seen at a distance ; a plan of Je- 
rusalem as it now appears ; rock scenery near the Dead 
Sea ; a view of the fishing-boats used on the Lake of Ge- 
nesareth ; of the small merchant vessels that ply along the 
coast of Syria ; of some of the cedars of Lebanon ; of the 
beautiful lily-like flower that grows abundantly on the hill 
from which the Sermon on the Mount is supposed to have 
been delivered ; a plan of an inner court in an Oriental house, 
such as they have been ever since the times of the Saviour. 
These cost him but a few moments at a time, yet how 
pleasant were they to look upon, to his children and friends 
at home. 

The following are some of the exercises which even a 
person unacquainted with drawing may require, and have 
well executed. Parallel lines ; perpendicular, horizontal, 



442 THE SCHOOL. 

and oblique ; the division of such lines into hah'es, thirds, 
foiu-ths, &c. ; geometrical figures ; plans of the schoolroom, 
yard, play-ground, and vicinity ; drawings of tables, benches, 
chairs, bookcases, stoves, globes, copies of any drawings or 
pictures. 

SECTION VI. ARITHMSTIC. 

" If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics." 
Bacon. 

Colburn's " First Lessons," the only faultless school- 
book that we have, has made a great change in the mode 
5»f teaching arithmetic, and is destined to make a still gi-eat- 
er. It should be made the basis of instruction in this de- 
partment. 

The following method is recommended by a most intelli- 
gent writer* to teach beginners who have not yet learned 
to count. A numeral frame should be procured, and, if one 
made expressly for the purpose cannot be had, an old slate 
frame will answer. " The vertical sides should be pierced 
for eleven wires, ten of which should be at equal distances, 
the eleventh farther apart,— -say double the distance. On 
each wire should be placed ten beads, half of one colour 
and half of another, — say blue and yellow, — arranged as 
follows : three yellow, two blue, two yellow, three blue. 
Thus we shall have one hundred beads on ten wires to 
represent units, and ten on the eleventh to represent hun- 
dreds ; and so arranged, by twos, threes, fives, and tens, 
that any number not exceeding one thousand can be read 
off as easily as by the use of ciphers. 

" Let us now take a class Avho cannot count. The 
teacher, holding the frame so that the beads are all on one 
side, and passing one of those on the upper wire across to 
the opposite side, says, ' There is one bead. Repeat, after 

* Thomas A. Pahner, author of the Teacher's Manual, from which 
work much in this section is, by his permission, taken 



ARITHMETIC. 443 

me, one bead (passing another across), two beads,' &c., till 
all the ten are passed across and named. Then repeat the 
operation, omitting the word bead, till all can readily count 
from one to ten. This is enough for the first lesson. The 
second lesson should be a repetition of the first, with this 
addition : When the three yellow beads are passed across, 
say, ' Now try to recollect three.' Then pass three across 
on another wire, and ask how many there are. If they do 
not know, count the first three again, and repeat, on differ- 
ent wires, till they know three at a glance. In like man- 
ner, make them familiar with four, five, six, seven ; and for 
eight, nine, ten, direct their attention to the other side, as 
eight on one side may be known by two being on the other ; 
nine by one, and ten by none. This may probably be too 
much for the second lesson. The teacher must take care 
not to fatigue the little pupils by too long exertion. 

" As soon as the class has become familiar with the first 
ten numbers, and able to name them on the frame at a 
glance, the difficulty is pretty much over, as the others are 
chiefly a repetition of the first ten. In teaching them, we 
should take the same pains with the second ten as Avith 
the first, since the words eleven, twelve, thirteen, k.c. are 
learnt in precisely the same way in which the first are 
learnt, and should be made just as fomiliar. After the 
first ten are familiarly learnt, and have been gone over 
readily, we pass the ten beads on the first wire across, and 
then say, ' There are ten.'' Now, one bead being passed 
across on the second wire, ' There are eleven ; another will 
make tioelve,'' and so on to nineteen ; and passing the last 
across, ' We have two tens, or ticenty.^ Here it will be 
well to exercise the class until, seeing all the beads on the 
first wire passed across, they Avill fix their attention on the 
second, and give the names which belong to the second 
ten, without each time counting over the first ten. Here 
also they must be taught that teen in the names of the 



444 THE SCHOOL. 

numbers from twelve to twenty is the same as ten, and 
that the syllable ty, in the numbers from nineteen to one 
hundred, is used instead of ten. Then, by passing the 
beads on the third wire singly across, we have twenty-one, 
twenty-two; and so on with the other wires, the last bead 
on the tenth wire making ten tens, or one hundred. " We 
have seen classes who have gone at once from ten to one 
hundred, and at the next lesson could name any number 
required, on the frame, not exceeding one hundred ; and, 
by telling them that each bead on the eleventh wire stood 
for one hundred, their knowledge extended to one thou- 
sand. These minute explanations are necessary for those 
only who know nothing of arithmetic. " But it would be 
profitable for the whole school to go over the frame once 
or twice, as there are few who have clear notions of the 
meaning of ty and tein.'' It is desirable also to exercise 
all upon the frame, to teach them to judge of numbers 
from one to ten by the eye. If all the beads on the first 
seven wires, for example, are passed across, and three on 
the eighth, they may be made so quick in judging as to 
say seventy-three as readily, on seeing the frame, as we 
do on seeing the characters 73. 

" Our little pupils, having thus acquired the nomenclature 
of numbers, the fundamental processed of addition, subtrac- 
tion, multiplication, and division, may now be commenced. 
The first two should be taught simultaneously on the frame : 
thus, passing two beads and two beads, the class Avill see 
they make four ; and, if two be taken from four, two will 
remain. If this be practised a very few minutes every day, 
in a week or two the class will add or subtract instantly 
any two numbers not exceeding one thousand. Multipli- 
cation and division should also proceed simultaneously. 
Thus, taking eight beads, ask how many twos they con- 
tain ; and, if one of the class separate them on the wire 
into twos, all will see there are four ; consequently, four 
twos make eight, and eight contains four twos. It unll not 



ARITHMETIC. 445 

be necessary to go farther than the fifth line in multiplica- 
tion and division, as the higher numbers will be more read- 
ily taught from Colburn's ' First Lessons.' The frame need 
now be no longer used as a regiilar exercise, but should al- 
ways be near to the teacher's desk ; as, if properly used, it 
will be of much advantage to the class." 

If the teacher finds he can more easily teach his pupils 
to count by reckoning on their fingers, or in any other way, 
he may employ that mode. It is very desirable, however, 
that the three names of ten should be taught and made fa- 
miliar, whatever method is used. 

" For very small children, Fowle's ' Mental Arithmetic' 
should precede Colburn's ' Lessons ;' but those of seven or 
eight years of age may pass at once into Colburn. Of these 
books, there should be only one copy in school. Any intel- 
ligent teacher can use them, even though unpractised in 
mental arithmetic. When this is the case, however, he 
should work out every question mentally along with the 
class. The main advantage of mental arithmetic is, the 
wonderful manner in which it disciplines some of the most 
important faculties of the mind, particularly those of atten- 
tion, abstraction, and reasoning. But, to gain these advan- 
tages in any considerable degree, the pupils should distinct- 
ly know that the questions are never to be repeated. They 
must give their whole attention while the question is read- 
ing, and they must retain the whole in their minds until 
they have found the answer, and explained the process by 
which it was discovered. The books ought to be used 
thus : The teacher reads, ' Your brother William gave you 
nineteen cents, your brother John ten, and your cousin 
Mary two. How many have been given to you in all V 

" C. [after consideration). Thirty-one. 

" T. How do you know 1 

" C. Because brother William gave me nineteen, brother 
John ten ; now ten and nineteen make twenty-nine ; and 
P p 



446 THE SCHOOL. 

cousin Mary gave me two ; twenty-nine and two make 
thirty-one. 

" T. Very well. Twelve men are to have ninety-six 
dollars for performing a piece of work. How much is due 
to each ? 

" C. Eight dollars. 

'T. Why? 

" C. Because, as the twelve men were to have ninety-six 
for their work, and as there are eight twelves in ninety-six, 
of course each man would have eight. 

" I now give a question in a more advanced stage. 

" T. A cistern has two cocks ; the first will fill it in 
three hours, the second in six hours ; how long would it 
take both to fill it ? 

" C. Two hours. 

" T. Why 1 

" C. Because, if the first can fill it in three hours, it will 
fill one third of it in one hour ; and if the second will fill it 
in six hours, it will fill one sixth in one hour ; but one third 
is equal to two sixths ; therefore, both will fill three sixths, 
or one half, in one hom* ; or the whole in two hours. 

" Some of the exercises in addition, in Colburn's ' First 
Lessons,' are so easy, though not the less important, that 
there is some danger of the class allowing their minds to 
wander, and yet answering correctly. This may be check- 
ed by varying the questions as follows : Instead of Nine 
and four ? Nineteen and four 1 Twenty-nine and foiu: ? 
Thirty-nine and four ? regularly increasing the number of 
ty, let them be varied thus : Twenty-nine and four ? Forty- 
nine and four ? Thirty-nine and four ? Fifty -nine and four ? 
&c. 

" It requires some tact to gain the utmost advantage from 
mental arithmetic, but it is easily acquired. The main point 
is, that the attention of the teacher be kept ivide awahc. 
The dull and slow must be allowed time ; the bright must 



ARITHMETIC. 44*7 

not be suffered to monopolize .he answers. At the same 
time, it will not do for the answers to be received in the 
order in which#;he pupils stand in the class, for in this 
case only one child would be occupied at once. Each 
pupil would attend only to his own question ; whereas all 
should be occupied, and should actually solve every ques- 
tion put to the class. The best plan, then, is for each to 
hold up a finger Avhen ready to answer, leaving the teacher 
to select whose turn it shall be. Thus every one might 
have an equal chance. The dull and the bright, however, 
ought not to be together, but in different classes. In fact, 
it would be well to have the classes differently arranged 
for each separate study. Some are bright at reading and 
dull in arithmetic, and vice versa. To chain the dull to the 
bright has bad effects on both." 

" Abbreviations in Mental Arithmetic. — The following 
abbreviations may probably not only be useful to the stu- 
dent, but lead to the invention of others equally profitable. 

" To multiply by 5. Take half the number, and multiply 
by 10. We take half, because multiplying by 10 gives 
double of multiplying by 5. Thus, 5 X 64 = %*- X 10 = 
32 tens, or 320. When the number is odd, halving leaves 
a remainder of 1, which, of course, is one 5. Thus, 73 X 
5 = -y- X 10 = 36 tens and five, or 365. 

" Let us next proceed to 15, 20, 25, 30, &;c., and after- 
ward take up the intervening numbers, 

" Fifteen is 10 and half of 10 ; therefore, increasing any 
number a half, and multiplying by 10, is the same as mul- 
tiplying by 15. Thus, as 64 and half of 64 make 96, 64X 
15:^96 tens, or 960. When the number is odd, proceed 
as above in speaking of 5. Thus, 75 X 15 = 112 tens and 
live, or 1125, and the square of 15 is 22 tens and five, or 225. 

" Twenty being two tens, to multiply by 20, double the 
number, and multiply by 10. Thus, 20 X 45 = 90 tens, 
or 900. 

" Twenty-five is one fourth of 100 ; therefore, to multiply 



448 THE SCHOOL. 

by 25, take i of the number for hundreds : eA^ery unit in the 
remainder is one twenty-five. Thus : 

24X25 = V X 100=600. • 

25X25=:V X 100=625. 

26 X25=VX 100 = 650. 

27 X 25 = V X 100 = 675, &c. 

" Fifty is half of 100 ; therefore, to multiply by 50, take i 
the number for hundreds. Thus, 24 X 50=23 X 100 = 1200. 

" Thirty is thrice ten ; therefore, to multiply by 30, take 
thrice the number, and multiply by 10. Thus, 24X30 = 
72tens, or 720. 

" Let us now examine the intermediate numbers, which 
are all done on one principle. Fourteen times any number 
are 15 times that number less once the number, and 13 
times any number are 15 times the number less twice the 
number. Thus, 14 X 24= 15 X 24 less once 24 ; and 13 X 
24 = 1 5 X 24 less twice 24. Again, 1 6 X 24 = 1 5 X 24 more 
once 24 ; and 17 X 24= 15 X 24 more twice 24. Thus, by 
connecting two numbers less and two numbers more with 
our 15, 20, 25, 30, &,c., we have all the intermediate num- 
bers. 

" Division is performed by reversing these processes ; 
that is, multiplying where division is shown above, and 
dividing where multiplication is indicated. Though not so 
easy as multiplication, some practice in it will be useful. 

" This system of abbreviations may seem obscure or dif- 
ficult, perhaps, to those Avho have never practised mental 
arithmetic. But nothing is hazarded in the assertion that, 
where Colburn's Arithmetic is used as pointed out above, 
the class will imderstand and apply it with ease and rapidi- 
ty before they have gone half through that Avork. The 
teacher may exemplify the abbreviations for himself on the 
slate, but they should be performed by the school exclu- 
sively in the mind.* 

* In schools in which these abbreviations have been practised, the 
most striking and vahial)lc effects have boon produoed. 



ARITHMETIC. 449 

*' It is a matter of the first importance that the teacher 
should have a distinct idea of the objects to be gained by 
the practice of mental arithmetic, as otherwise the main 
advantages that might result from it vi^ill assuredly be lost. 
Let it be constantly borne in mind, then, by the teacher, 
that the knowledge of arithmetic is 7iot the chief benefit to 
be derived from it, but one of secondary importance. It is 
the mental discipline, the power of abstraction, the habit of 
attention and of reasoning which it develops, that consti- 
tute its chief value. But all these advantages are lost if 
the child is allowed to study the book, more especially by 
working out the questions on the slate. They can only be 
completely attained by calling on the class to solve each 
question mentally, merely from hearing it once read, and 
then to give a clear account of his mental operations. And 
so beautifully are the questions arranged, so completely 
does the knowledge gained in each question come into re- 
quisition in those that follow, that, if the plan of study be 
commenced right, and strictly followed, the most intricate 
and diflicult questions will give no trouble to the class. 

" It may, perhaps, be incredible to some, but it is not the 
less true, that Colburn's book may be gone through, and 
correct notions be attained of the principles of arithmetic, 
without the knowledge of a single character. A child who 
can neither write nor read, who has never even seen a fig- 
ure, will probably acquire this knowledge more correctly 
than those who fully understand them. Notwithstanding 
this, however, as the knowledge of figures is an indispensa- 
ble part of education, and as its acquisition is much the 
easiest in early youth, as soon as a child can hold his pen- 
cil correctly, and can Avrite the ten characters, he should 
proceed to the practice of written arithmetic." 

The inexperienced teacher will find the key very useful 
in explaining the mode in which each section is to be taught. 
He must not, however, depend too much on these explana- 
P p 2 



450 THE SCHOOL. 

tions, as better ones will often occur to himself. The plates 
are of very doubtful utility. They may be employed if the 
teacher, after carefully studying them, can make good use 
of them. Many of the best teachers have found them of 
no use. 

A pupil who has been faithfully taught Colbum's First 
Lessons will very seldom find any difficulty in the manage- 
ment of fractions. It may sometimes be necessary to pro- 
duce the apple and cut it in parts, to illustrate the meaning 
of the names, when they are first used. Afterward it, will 
usually be sufficient to imagine the apple to be divided and 
subdivided ; and this has been found better than the use of 
any plate or frame whatever. 

Some of the kinds of questions maybe enlarged upon and 
multiplied to great advantage. The questions 132 to 143 
of the Miscellaneous Examples contain all the principles 
of Simple Interest, If similar questions are repeated until 
these principles are made perfectly familiar, most questions 
of Simple Interest may be solved mentally with great facil- 
ity ; and precisely these principles are applicable, without 
rules, to all cases of interest that can occur. 

The method of Mental Arithmetic is capable of far great- 
er extension than is given it in this little volume. The fol- 
lowing are some of the things done by this process in a 
school in England. The age of the moon is determined at 
any given time ; the day of the week found, which corre- 
sponds with any day of any month and year ; any number 
not exceeding a thousand may be squared ; the square root 
of a number of not more than five figures extracted ; the 
space through which a body falls in a given time calcula- 
ted ; and the circumferences and areas of circles deter- 
mined from their diameters, and many other similar prob- 
lems solved.* 

* See " Plans for the Government and Liberal Instruction of Boys 
in large numbers, drawn from experience," p. 17. 



ARITHMETIC. 451 

WRITTEN ARITHMETIC. 

The Roman numerals are so frequently used, that all 
children at the primary schools should be made familiar with 
them. 

" The following are supposed to be the original forms of 
the Arabic characters : 

123456789 

" These nine characters have each two values, viz., their 
simple value, as one, two, three, &c., and their local value, 
which depends on their distance from the place of units, 
which is always the first on the right hand, unless other- 
Avise indicated by a mark, which shall be explained present- 
ly. Thus, in the following number, 6666, we have six four 
times repeated, but every time the character represents a 
difFereet value — the first on the right hand representing the 
units (or ones), and, therefore, simply six ; the second, 6 ty, 
or tens ; the third, 6 tens of tens, or hundreds ; the fourth, 
6 tens of tens of tens, or thousands ; and if there were 
more, they would still go on increasing tenfold to infinity. 
Thus we perceive that the fundamental law of the Arabic 
system is, that a removal of a figure one place towards the 
left increases its value tenfold; and, on the contrary, its re- 
moval towards the right decreases it tenfold. 

" In addition to the nine characters mentioned above, there 
is one which does not consist of lines, like the significant 
figures, but, on the contrary, is entirely round, to express 
that it has, in itself, no value, its sole use being to occupy 
the place of some denomination which may be wanting, and 
which, therefore, instead of its customary name of cipher, 
may be appropriately termed ^^wre of place. Thus, to rep- 
resent six hundred and five (605), it is necessary to have a 
character that has no value in itself, to stand in the place of 
tens ; otherwise the 6 would be 6 tens, in place of 6 
hundred." 



452 THE SCHOOL. 

It is of great importance that the learners should become 
perfectly familiar with the numeration table. For this pur- 
pose, let a series of figures be written on the blackboard ; 
let one of the class divide them into periods of threes, and 
let the class be exercised in naming them, irregularly, until 
all are familiar with them. Then wrile a series of figures 
of the same kind, thus, 

4 4 4 4 44 
and ask how many times is the second 4 greater than the 
first ? how many times is the third greater than the second ? 
how many times is the third greater than the first ? the 
fourth than the third ? &c. Again, how many times is the 
first contained in the second? the first in the third ? &c. 

When the class have become sufficiently familiar with 
whole numbers, they should be immediately introduced to 
a knowledge of decimals, by being shown that the same law 
prevails on the right of the decimal point as on the left. 
Having been taught to estimate the value of a figure by ob- 
serving its distance from the place of units, they may be 
shown that, by placing a dot on the right of units, the fig- 
ures on the right of units have the same names as those on 
the left, with the addition to each of th, and a value con- 
tinually decreasing in tenfold proportion. Thus, 

444.444 : 
the 4 on the right of the dot represents 4 tenths, the next 4 
hundredths, &.c. This being made familiar, the effect of 
moving the decimal point to the right or left may be shown : 
that to divide by 100, for example, we remove the decimal 
point two places to the left ; to multiply by 100, we move it 
two places to the right. It may require some care and rep- 
etition to render these things perfectly plain, but when they 
are made so, many of the difficulties of arithmetic are en- 
tirely prevented. The only reason why decimals should 
ever be considered, as they often arc, more difficult than 
whole numbers, is, that they are separated from them, and 



ARITHMETIC. 453 

treated of in a different section, as if they had some peculiar 
difficulties. As they have not, the student is bewildered, 
and is led to suppose that he does not understand deci- 
mals, while they certainly are just as easy to understand as 
anything else in Arithmetic. To prevent this, exercises in 
decimals should be given interchangeably with those on 
whole numbers, in practice upon all the rules. 

Here the use of the cipher or zero, 0, should be shown, 
by writing the same figure with several zeros before and 
after it, and pointing out their effect. Thus, 30, 300, 3, .03, 
003, or any other combinations, may be Avritten, and the 
class exercised in reading them, writing similar numbers 
from dictation, and showing the effect of the zero. 

When the class perfectly understand notation, so far, at 
least, as thousands and thousandths, and not before, they 
should proceed to addition.* And in this the object should 
be, first, to make them understand the simple fact that one 
is carried from a lower to a higher column for every ten, 
merely because more than nine units cannot be expressed 
by a single figure in the unit column ; and, secondly, to 
teach to add rapidly, not only by single figures at a time, 
but by taking two or more at once. In order to this, the 
class may be exercised by such questions as the following : 
How many does 6 want of 10? How many 7? 8? &c. 
How many are wanting to 7 of 11? 6?8? &c. How 
many to 12 ? 

"When the class can answer such questions instantly, 
they should be made to observe that adding 10 to a number 

* With young classes, it may be well to confine notation, at first, 
to numbers as small as thousands or tens of thousands. They 
should be made perfectly to comprehend such numbers before they 
are introduced to millions. Most teachers are not aware how 
slowly the idea of such large numbers is comprehended by children. 
One great excellence of Colburn's First Lessons is, that small num- 
bers only are used in it. 



454 


THE SCHOOL. 






does not change 


its units 


; that adding 11 


or 12 increases 


them by 1 or 2 ; 


and that 


adding 8 or 


9 decreases them by 


2 or 1. 










Columns should then be constructed, for 


practice, like the 


following : 










1st. 




2d. 




3d. 


a h c 




def 




g h i 


1 3 5 




2 1 8 




3 4 2 


98 7 




3 2 3 




4 3 3 


774 




5 8 1 




7 74 


34 8 




3 72 




6 6 1 


4 5 5 




4 3 4 




8 1 2 


6 6 7 




3 1 6 




5 2 3 


22 3 




24 8 




2 8 4 


8 9 9 




74 3 




5 9 5 


5 84 




1 3 1 




3 7 6 


5 3 8 




4 54 




9 6 7 


3 7 5 




2 1 5 




74 8 


747 




4 5 3 




1 3 9 



In the column a, every two figiu'es make 10 ; in &, every 
two make 11 ; in c, every two make 12. Ivi d, every three 
figures make 10 ; in e, every three make 11 ; in y, every 
three make 12. In g, every two alternate figures, viz., first 
and third, and second and fourth, &c., make 10 ; in h, the 
first and fourth, second and third, fifth and eighth, seventh 
and sixth, &c., make 10 ; the column i goes on a diff'erent 
principle, which is, that whenever three figures follow in 
regular order, their sum is equal to three times the middle 
one ; that is, the sum of 9, 8, and 7 is 3 times 8 ; 4 + 5 + 6 
= 3x5; because, if 1 be taken from the largest and added 
to the smallest, all three would be equal. Let the teacher 
point out to the school, or to a class, the different combina- 
tions in the columns a, b, c, d, &c., and then write some 
columns of figures at random, and he will be surprised 
how quickly the little pupils will catch the different combi- 
nations, and add them together." 



ARITHMETIC. 455 

In teaching subtraction, the practice of borrowing should 
be thus explained : 

From 635 
Take 476 



Remain 159 

We cannot take 6 from 5, but 35 may be considered as 
20 and 15, and 6 taken from 15 leaves 9. So, we cannot 
take 70 from 20, or 7 in the column of tens from 2, but 62 
may be considered 50 and 12, and 7 from 12 leaves 5. 
Then, as 5 remains in place of 6 in the column of hun- 
dreds, 4 from 5 leaves 1. 

Multiplication. — The student having been taught, by 
mental arithmetic, to form the multiplication table, it will be 
well to let it be perfectly learned as far as 20 by 20. This 
is earnestly recommended, as it will be found a great saving 
of time. But if it be not thought advisable, he should at 
least be perfectly familiar with it as far as 12 by 12 ; and 
care should be taken that he know it as well in one order 
of the factors as in another, that 9 times 7, for instance, 
should come as readily as 7 times 9. When it is well 
learned, the student should be exercised in multiplying by 
each of the digits separately, and afterward by larger num- 
bers. Care should be taken that he do not lose the real 
value of the num.bers. This may be done by some exer- 
cises of this kind : 

Multiply 439 
By 37 

3073 
1317 



16243 



Say 7 times 9 are 63 ; set down 3 and carry 6 tens : 7 
times 3 tens are 21 tens, to which add 6 tens, and you 
have 27 tens ; set down 7 and carry 200, &c. ; in the next 
line, 30 times 9 are 270 ; set down 7 in the ten's place, 
and carry 200, &c. 

Much time may be saved by abbi^viated modes df multi- 



456 



THE SCHOOL. 



plying, some of which are the following : to multiply by 5, 
consider the multiplicand to be multiplied by 10, by annex- 
ing 0, and divide it by 2. To multiply by 9, consider the 
multiplicand as multiplied by 10, by annexing 0, and, as 
this is once too many, subtract the multiplicand from it, 
thus ': 

9245 

9 

83205 
5 from 0, 4 from the 4 which would be left, 2 from 4, &c. 
To multiply by 11, suppose the operation to be perform- 
ed as in No. 1, and so exhibit it on the blackboard, and 
explain No. 2 as if No. 1 were before you, thus : 

No. 1. No. 2. 

426,389 426,389 
lj_ 11 

426,389 4,690,279 
4.263,89 



4,690,279 
9 are 9 ; 9 and 8 are 17 ; 1 added to 3 are 4 and 8 are 12 , 
1 and 6 are 7 and 3 are 10, &c. That is, first set down 
the figure on the right, then add each figure to the one next 
it on the left, and lastly set down the last figure on the left 
by itself. 

To multiply by any number between 12 and 20: multi- 
ply by the units' figure of the multiplier, continually adding 
in the next right-hand figure of the multiplicand, and on the 
left setting down the highest figure of the multiplicand, in- 
creased by what was to be carried. 

To multiply by 25, conceive two zeros, 00, to be added 
to the multiplicand, and divide by 4. 

Division. — After the pupil has become familiar with di- 
vision by one or more numbers, he should be taught the 
Italian method, as follows. In this, as in all cases of long 
division, the divisor, as well as the quotient, should be 
placed on the right of the dividend. 



ARITHMETIC. ^5>^ 

17589|39_ 
198 |451 
39| 
Having found that 39 are contained 4 times in 175, say 4 
times 9 are 36, which cannot be taken from 5, but, taken 
from 45, leave 9 ; then 4 times 3 are 12, which, taken from 
the 13 which remain of the 17 after 4 are borrowed, leave 
1. To the 19 bring down 8, and proceed as before. 

The following abbreviations are too obvious to need ex- 
planation : 

"To divide by 5, 15, 35, 45, or 55, multiply by 2 and 
divide by twice 5, &c. To divide by 75, 175, 275, multi- 
ply by 4 and divide by four times the number. To divide 
by 125, 375, 625, 875, 1125, or 1375, multiply by 8 and 
divide by 8 times the number, or 1,3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 thous- 
and. 

By reversing these processes we obtain modes of abbre- 
viating multiplication, thus : 

" To multiply by 175, multiply by 700 and divide by 4, 
&c." 

Division of decimals should be explained in connexion 
with that by whole numbers. To the student familiar with 
Colburn's First Lessons, the matter is perfectly simple and 
easy. Suppose 24 are to be divided by 8. If both are 
whole numbers, the quotient is at once seen to be the whole 
number 3. But suppose 2'4 are to be divided by 8. An 
eighth part of 24 tenths is 3 tenths. The quotient is there- 
fore -3 ; or a third part of 24 tenths is 8 tenths, or '8. Sup- 
pose the dividend to be '24 ; then an eighth part of 24 him- 
dredlhs is 3 hundredths, or '03, and a third part of 24 hun- 
dredths is 8 hundredths — that is '24-7- 3 = -08. Lastly, sup- 
pose 24 are to be divided by -8 : 24 are 240 tenths, and 8 
tenths are contained in 240 tenths 30 times. The quotient, 
therefore, of 24*0 divided by '8 is 30. A few explanations 
01 this kind on the blackboard would be sufticient to show 



468 THE SCHOOL. 

that the principles of division of decimals are identical with 
those for diidsion of whole numbers, and that the only diffi- 
culty is the place of the decimal point. 

Fractions. — All the difficulties of managing fractions 
vanish before the processes of Colbum's First Lessons. If 
the student be familiar with these, therefore, he has only to 
refer to the section in which they are contained, and to 
perform on the blackboard or slate the processes which he 
has been in the habit of performing mentally. If he were 
required, for example, to multiply one fraction by another, 
he would only have to recall the mental process of finding 
fths of 4ths, and work it out on the slate or blackboard : 
ith of ith is gVth, ^th of ^ths is g'Vths, and therefore |ths 
of |ths are ^fths. This may then be represented on the 
blackboard thus: jX4=i|; and he may be made to 
observe that he has multiplied the numerators for a new 
numerator, and the denominators for a new denominator. 
In this manner he will find that allthe rules or principles 
of fractions are contained in the last three sections of the 
" First Lessons." 

In reducing a fraction to its lowest terms, the learner will 
be often much assisted by the following facts, which should 
therefore be pointed out to him, with the reason : 

Every even number is divisible by 2. 

Every number whose two right-hand figures are divisible 
by 4 or by 25, is itself divisible by 4 or by 25 ; because both 
these numbers will divide one hundred without a remainder, 
and therefore any number of hundreds. 

Every number whose three right-hand figiires are divisi- 
ble by 8 or by 125, is itself divisible by 8 or by 125 ; be- 
cause, as one thousand is divisible by these numbers, any 
number of thousands must be so likewise. 

Every number ending in or 5 is divisible by 5. 

Every number, the sum of whose significant figures is di- 
visible by 3 or by 9, is itself divisible by 3 or by 9 ; because, 



ARITHMETIC, 459 

as 10, 100, 1000, &c., are equal to 9, 99, 999, &c., and 1 over, 
so 3, 4, or any other number of 10s, 100s, &c., are equal to 
3, 4, or any number of 9s, 99s, &c., with 3, 4, &c., over. 

The process of multiplying a series of fractions may of- 
ten be much shortened by cancelling such factors as are at 
the same time in the numerator and denominator, or above 
and below the line ; since, if a number is first multiplied 
and then divided by the same factor, its value remains the 
same : thus, in the question, What is the value of |ths of 
•f ths of fths of -f ths of |-ths ? we cancel first, 

3 4$$ l_3 

4 above and below the line, because, otherwise, we first di- 
vide and then multiply by 4. For the same reason, we 
cancel, successively, 5, 6, and 7, and find the value of the 
fraction to be fths. 

In the same manner, we may sometimes cancel several 
factors of the same number, when the same factors are found 
at the same time on the opposite sides of the line. In the 
case 

t^n^b 10' 



we first cancel 4 above, and the factor 4 in 32 below the 
line, reducing the latter to 8 ; then 7 below, and the fac- 
tor 7 in 28 above, reducing the latter to 4 ; then this 4 
above and 4 in the 8 below, reducing this last to 2. There 
remain 3 above and 2x5 below the line. 

This process of cancelling admits of numerous and im- 
portant applications in the solution of practical questions. 
Of these I shall give various instances hereafter. 

Whenever a new principle is to be explained, it should 



460 THE SCHOOL. 

first be introduced by instances, in numbers so small as to 
be easily comprehended by the. mind of the learner. Pro- 
portion may be thus explained : ask, How much larger is the 
number 4 than 2 ? Twice as large. How much larger 
is the number 8 than 4 ? Twice as large. Then you see 
that 4 is as much larger than 2 as 8 is than 4. These four 
numbers form what is called a proportion. They may be 
written thus : 2 : 4 : : 4 : 8 ; and when so written, may be 
read, 2 is to 4 as 4 is to 8 ; or, 2 is as much smaller than 
4 as 4 is than 8. Or they may be written thus : 2:4=4:8, 
and read as before. In each case, these numbers so arranged 
form a proportion. So 3:5 = 9: 15. What four numbers 
can you find which will form a proportion ? (The class 
should be exercised in forming proportions, until the word 
and the thing expressed by it are perfectly familiar. The 
explanation may then proceed.) When one number is 
twice as large as another, as 4 and 2, or 8 and 4, we say 
that they have the ratio of 2 to 1, or that one is i of the 
other. In like manner, when one is three times as large 
as another, as 6 and 2, we say it has the ratio of 3 to 1, or 
that one is id of the other. What other numbers have the 
ratio of 3 to 1 ? What have the ratio of 4 to 11 What 
have that of 5 to 1 ? Observe that of any two pairs of the 
numbers that have the same ratio, you may form a pro- 
portion; for example: 2:10=4:20. Form a proportion 
of numbers that have the ratio of 4 to 1, 6 to 1, &c., &c. 
Most numbers have not so simple a ratio to each other : 3 
is |ths of 5, and 5 is |ds of 3. Form a proportion in which 
the ratio shall be fths. 3: 5 = 9-: 15. Another in which 
the ratio shall be fths. 4:9 = 12:27, &c. The four 
numbers which form a proportion are called the terms of 
the proportion ; the first and last are called the extremes, 
and the second and third are called the middle tenns, or the 
means. Now examine all the proportions that you have 
formed, or can form, and you will find that the product of 



ARITHMETIC. 461 

the extremes is always equal to the product of the means 
This is called the rule of proportion. 

By means of this rule, we may always find any one term 
of a proportion when the other three are known. " For, if 
one of the means be wanting, we have only to take the product 
of the extremes, and, as that is equal to the product of the 
means, if we divide by the given mean, the quotient will be 
the other. In like manner, if one of the extremes be want- 
ing, it can be found by dividing the product of the means by 
the given extreme. Thus, in the two following proportions, 
in which x stands for the unknown number : 

No. 1. 4:6=a?:18. No. 2. a? : 4=3 : 6. 
" 1. The product of the extremes 4<x 18=72, which, be- 
ing also the product of the means, dividing by the given 
mean 6, will give the other 12, which here is represented 
by X. 

" 2. The product of the means 4 X 3= 12, divided by the 
extreme 6, gives the other, 2. 

" It appears, from the above, that it is of no consequence 
which term of the proportion is wanting. If any three are 
given, the fourth can be found. But, as it will be more coti- 
venient for the student always to place the unknown term 
last, we shall regularly pursue that course." 

Most practical questions are capable of solution by the 
rule of proportion, which is the foundation of what is called 
the Rule of Three. 

" 1.* If a piece of cloth, 4 yards long, cost 12 dollars, 
what will be -the cost of a piece of the same cloth 7 yards 
long ? 

" Our first business is to ascertain what it is that is want- 
ed, which will be known from the xoords asking the question. 
In the above, we know it to be mowey, because the question 
is, ' what will be the cost V Therefore, 12 dollars is one 
of the terms of the imperfect ratio. Accordingly, we write 

* These questions are taken from Adams's New Arithmetic 
Q Gi2 



462 THE SCHOOL. 

it thus : 12 : a: ; the x representing the unknown number. 
The other ratio is one of yards, and the numbers are 4 and 7, 
To know in what order to place them, Ave read the question, 
and say, More or less ? As 7 yards will evidently cost more 
than 4, the answer is, More. Having thus ascertained that 
the consequent x is more than 12, the other ratio must be 
placed in the same order, that is, making its largest term 
the consequent : 

4 : 7=12 : x. 

" We might now proceed to take the product of the means 
7 X 12, and dividing by the given extreme 4, would show 
the amount of the other, represented by x ; but as this, and 
almost all other questions, can readily be abbreviated, it will 
be proper to examine the proportion more particularly with 
that view. At a glance, then, it Avill be perceived that 
the 7 and 12 are factors, according to the rule, and 4 a di- 
visor." But as, when there are the same factors in the 
multipliers and the divisors, the result is the same if we can- 
cel the equal factors in both, " it appears that, if we divide 
4 and 12 by 4, we shall have the same proportion, 

1 : 7=3 : x, 
in which x, the answer, is seen, by inspection, to be 21." 

" 2. At $54 for 9 barrels of flour, how many barrels mav 
be purchased for $ 186 ? {More or less ?) 
54 : 186=9 : x 

Dividing by 9, 6 : 186=1 : x 

" "6, 1 : 31=1 : a:=31, by inspection. 

" Many of these questions may be still farther shortened 
by abbreviating, mentally, while first stating them. Thus • 

" 3. If three men perform a certain piece of work in 10 
days, how long will it take 6 men to do the same ? 

Dividing by 3, 2 : 1=10 : a;=5, by inspection. 

" Fellowship. — 4. Two men own a ticket ; the first owns 
ith, the second |ths of it. The ticket draws a prize of $40 
What is each man's share ? 



ARITHMETIC. 463 

First man, 1 fourth. 

Second man, 3 fomths. 

4. 

First man's proportion, 4 : 1=40 : a:=10, by inspection. 

Second " " 4 : 3=40 : x 

Dividing by 4, 1 : 3 = 10 : a.'=30 " " 

40, proof. 

" 5. Two persons have a joint stock in trade. A puts in 

$250, and B $350 ; they gain $400. What is each man's 

share ? 

A.'s stock, 250 

B.'s " 350 

600 

Dividing by 200, mentally, 

3 : 250=2 : a:=evidently id of 500=$166|ds. 

3 : 350=2 : a;=id of 700= _$233|d. 

Proof, $400 

" Fractions. — 6. If |^ths lb, of sugar cost yjt^is of a 

shilling, what will ||ds of a lb. cost? 

11 33_ 7 ^x 

30 * 43~ 15 • x' 

By reversing our divisor, ii, the whole proportion is 

changed into multiplication of fractions. 

30 33 -1 X 

Reversing, TT ^ To -^ T^ — Z' 

°' 11 43 lo X 

2 3 7 42 

Dividing by 11 and by 15, T'^Zq^ T'^Iq of a shilling. 

" Every question is not susceptible of such abbreviations ; 
but a vast majority may be thus considerably shortened, and 
a large number entirely so, as above, so as to require no 
multiplication. The pupil should be encouraged even still 
farther to shorten such questions, by resolving all the abbre- 
viating processes into one, mentally, while stating the ques- 
tion. Such a habit is easily acquired. Children of both 
sexes, under nine years of age, have solved questions like 
the above without writing them down at all, merely by in- 



464 THE SCHOOL. 

specting the book. Where questions cannot be sufliciently 
abbreviated to be solved by inspection, recourse must be had 
to the rule, Product of means==product of extremes. 

" Compound Proportion. — Proportion is said to be com- 
pound when the ratio of the unknovi^n number is not equal 
to another given ratio, but is compounded of several ratios. 
Take, for instance, the following question : 

" 7. If a man travel 273 miles in 13 days, travelling only 
7 hours in a day, how many miles will he travel in 12 days, 
travelling ten hours in a day 1 

" Here it will be perceived that the question. How many 
miles ? depends neither entirely on the number of days, nor 
on the number of hours travelled in each day, but is influ- 
enced by both. It might be resolved into two questions of 
simple proportion, but it is more easily and simply treated 
as one of compound proportion, solved, however, on the same 
principles. 

Miles. Miles. 

Days, 13 : 12 ? ^7^ • r 
Hours, 7: 10^■'''"^•^• 
Dividing 273 by 13 and by 7, or by their product, 91, 

1 • 12 i 

^ \ -in > 3 : 0^=360, by inspection. 

" 8. If 6 men build a wail 20 feet long, 6 feet high, and 
4 feet thick, in 16 days, in what time will 24 men build one 
200 feet long, 8 feet high, and 6 feet thick ? 
24 : 6 ^ Contracting, $ ^^ : 2 ) 4 

20 : 200 L^ ^0 : ^00 10 X^ : x=SO, 



6 : 8 f ^'^ ■ '^' : iS (by inspect. 

4 : 6 j ^: J 

" This was done by dividing 24 and 8 by 8 ; 20 and 200 
by 20 ; 3 and 6 (first ratio) by 3 ; 6 and 6 by 6 ; 4 and 16 
by 4. It is hardly necessary to observe, that in these ab- 
breviations all the Is have been omitted, as the multiplying 
or dividing by that number can produce no change. 

" There being a gi-eater variety of numbers in compound 



ARITHMETIC. 465 

proportion, it admits of contractions more frequently than 
simple proportion, though there may be some questions 
which are not susceptible of any. When multiplication 
has to be performed, it should be recollected that the left- 
hand extreme and the first mean consist of several numbers, 
the product of which being severally taken, we proceed as 
in simple proportion. The teacher should be careful to 
impress on his pupils the necessity of asking the question, 
More or less ? previously to the writing down of every ratio. 

" 9. If $100 gain $6 in one year, what will $400 gain 
in 9 months ? 

100 : 400 > « ^ Dividing by 100, U : 2 ? , ^_ , „ 
12:9 \^'-^- and 6, and 2, ^ 1 : 9 ^ ^ • '^-^"• 

" Interest. — Let the subject of interest be explained 
from any of the popular books on Arithmetic ; adding, the 
words per cent., per ann., are either expressed or under- 
stood, in every question respecting interest, immediately 
after the rate. Per cent, means for every hundred. Per 
ann. means for every year. When the rate is not express- 
ed, six is always understood. 

" For instance, in the following question. What is the in- 
terest of $11.04 for 1 year, at 3 per cent. ? the words per 
annum are understood. And in the question, What is the 
interest of $150 for 16 days 1 the words at 6 per cent, per 
ann. are understood, and must be supplied in stating the 
question. From the want of a clear understanding of the 
terms employed, many pupils find the subject of interest 
exceedingly difficult. Let the teacher repeatedly question 
his class, till he is sure they are thoroughly understood. 

" Case I. — Principal, time, and rate, given, to find the in- 
terest or amount. 

"10. What is the interest of $11.04 for 1 year, at 3 per 
cent. 1 

100 : 11.04 > „ 
1 yr. : 1 yr. S 

Dividing by 100, j { ; "^^^M 3 : a;= .3312, by inspection. 



466 THE SCHOOL. 

"11. What is the interest of $150 for 16 days ? 
100 : 150 > „ Divide by 100, ( 1 : .15 K 

360 : 16 J ^ • ^' 10, and 6, \(S: \q\ ''^' 

Divide by 6 ; that is, the upper by 3, the lower by 2. 

1 : .05 > . > • 

, „ S a:= .4, by inspection. 

*' Case 11. — The time, rate per cent., and amount, given, 
to find the principal. 

" 12. What sum of money, put at interest at 6 per cent., 
will amount to $61.02 in 1 year and 4 months 1 

" Here, as we have only one amount given, we must find 
another, at the same rate and time, to complete the ratio. 
Let us find the amount of $100. 
100: 100 



12: 16 ' ^ = ^- 



I 



Divide by 100 and 12, <,'j;^>l:a;=:8, interest. 
^ ■ ' 100, principal. 

$108, amount. 

Amt. Amt. Princ. 

108: 61.02 = 100: a;. 
Removing the dot, viz., multiplying by 100, and dividing bv 
108, gives x= $56.50." 

" Case III. — Time, rate, and interest given, to find the 
principal. 

" 13. What sum of money, put at interest 16 months, will 
gain $10,50 at 6 per cent. ? 
6 : 10.50 



16:12 ^^^0 = ^- 

Divide by 12 and ( 1 : 1050 / ^ . ^^131.25, by inspect'n." 
remove the dot, ^8:1 \ ^ j i- 

" Case IV. — Principal, interest, and time given, to find 
the rate per cent. 

" 14. If I pay $3.78 interest for the use of $36 for 18 
months, what is the rate per cent. ? 



ARITHMETIC. 467 

" Here we suppress the dot and strike out 100 ; divide 
36 and 12 by 12 ; and divide 378 by 3 X 18 = 54. 

" Case V. — Principal, rate per cent., and interest, given, 
to find the time. 

" 15. The interest on a note of $36, at 7 per cent., was 
$3.78. What was the time ? 

^. 

^|:^^jfJ;r^::c= 18 months. 

18 

" A very few questions, worked out on the blackboard by 
an intelligent teacher, will give his pupils a practical knowl- 
edge of the whole system of arithmetic, which could not 
be easily attained by any other means ; and they will be 
able to perform such questions as the above, after a little 
practice, with still fewer figures." 

Most of the questions just solved by the Rule of Three, 
admit of easy solution by Mental Arithmetic ; and all of 
them may be readily solved by the method of fractions, 
which is the shape which the mental processes of Colburn's 
First Lessons take, when wrought out on the slate. The 
teacher should make himself familiarly acquainted with all 
these methods. He may then adopt in teaching whichever 
he finds best suited to his pupils, or whichever he prefers ; 
or he may communicate all to his classes, and enable 
them, in the solution of each problem, to apply such of the 
methods as is best adapted to its particular conditions. The 
solutions are given below. The questions are referred to 
by their numbers. 

1. If a piece 4 yards long cost 12 dollars, one yard will 
cost one fourth of 12, or 3, and 7 yards will cost 7 times 3 
dollars, or 21 : indicated thus, -^y~~ (by cancelling the fac- 
tor 4 above and below the line) ^'=21. 

2. If 9 bbls. cost $54, 1 will cost one ninth of 54, or $6, 



468 THE SCHOOL. 

and for $186 maybe purchased as many bbls. as 6 are con- 
tained times in 186, which is 31. 

6 

3. If 3 men perform the work in 10 days, it will take 6 
men half as long, or 5 days. 

4. One fourth of 40 is 10, three fourths, 30. 

5. A's and B's stocks together are $600. They gain 
$400. Each dollar gains f f f ths or |ths or fds of 1 dollar. 
250 gain 250 times f =^°=$166|. 350 gain 350 times | = 
^-i°=$233|. 

The 6th has a solution essentially the same by both meth- 
ods. 

7. If a man travel 273 miles in 13 days, at 7 hours a day, 
in 1 day he will travel -f^th of 273, or 21, and in 1 hour ith of 
21, or 3 miles. In 10 hours he will travel 10 times 3, or 30 
miles ; and in 12 days, 12 times 30, or 360 miles. This 
may be indicated thus, placing the numbers to be divided 
by, beloio, and those to be multiplied by, above the line, and 
indicating the successive steps by the letters taken alpha- 
betically : 

/ ^^g 3 

a tUxd 10 xe 12 _^^,-t 
bX$Xc1l ~ 

In every case, the numbers used to divide by should be 
placed below the line, and those used to multiply by, 
above it. 

8. If 6 men build such a wall in [a) 16 days, 1 man will 
require {b) 6 times as long, or 96 days, and (c) 24 men will 
do it in ^'jth part of the time, or 4 days. If the wall were 
1 foot thick, it would require [iT) \i\\ part of that time, or 1 
day to build it ; if it were but 1 foot long, it would require 



ARITHMETIC. 469 

but (e) J^th part of that time to build it ; and if 1 foot only 
high, (/) ith part of that time, namely, T2 o^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^y- ^^^ 
as it is to be (g) 6 feet thick, it will require yfoths, or J^th ; 
as it is to be 8 feet high, it will require {h) -^\ihs ; and as it 
is to be 200 feet long, it Avill require (i) 200 times gV^^s, or 
80 days. This process may be represented thus, and the 
cancelling be performed afterward. 
mlO 

cUxdAxe^0xn ='^^' ^^ ^^''^'"'"" ^ '''f^''^ ^' ^ 

^^ "^ in i and c, 16 in a, and in d and k, 

and 20 in e and i. 

9. If $100 gain $6 in one year, $400 will gain 4x6, 
or $24, in 1 year, and three fourths as much, or $18, in 9 
months. 

6x^00x3 
X00X4-^ 

10. Interest at 3 per cent, is xfoths of the principal; 
therefore ""'^^^ = .3312 is the interest of $11.04. Here 
11.04 is divided by 100, by removing the decimal point two 
places to the left. 

1 1. If the interest is 6 per cent, for 1 year, or 12 months, 
it is 1 per cent, for 2 months, or 60 days : that is, for 
$150, the interest is $1.50 for 60 days. For 12 days it 
is one fifth of that, or .30, and for 4 days, one third of that, 
or .10; for 16 days it is therefore .30 + .10 = .40. 

5 1.50 

3~;30 

10 

.40 

12. At 6 per cent., $100 will amount in 1 year and 4 

months to $108: $6 1.02 is, therefore, |||ths of the sum to 

be put on interest. 

61.02x100 ___ 
—^^g— = 56.50. 

R R 



470 THE SCHOOL. 

Multiply by 100 by removing the dot two places to the 
right. " 

13. In 16 months, or 1 year and 1 third, the interest of 
$100 will amount to $8. The sum ought, therefore, to be 
-L^ths of $10.50. 

O 

14. As $3.78 is the interest for 18 months, two thirds 
of that sum, $2.52, must be the interest for 12 months, or 1 
year ; and as 6 per cent, is six dollars on a hundred, so 
the rate per cent, here must be 2.52 on 36., or ^j^ths, 
which, reduced to a whole number or decimal, must give 
the rate per cent. 

7 
^?^^=.07,or7percent. 

15. The interest on $36, at 7 per cent., for 1 year, is 
$2.52 ; therefore the time is f||ds of 1 year. 

— ^= (cancelhng9) ^= (cancelhng 14) ^=li year. 

If the teacher wish to communicate intelligibly a knowl- 
edge of the roots, and of progression, he may give, in a few 
lessons on the blackboard, enough of Algebra to enable his 
pupils to comprehend them. Sherwin's or Colburn's Alge- 
bra will furnish the means. 

SECTION VII. ACCOUNTS. 

Connected with Arithmetic, and the great practical end 
for which it should be studied, is the knowledge of Ac- 
counts. This has been greatly neglected. It seems al- 
most absurd to spend so much time as is usually devoted to 
Arithmetic, and especially to the subject of Interest, in 
preparation for the management of Accounts, and yet not 
to teach the very thing for which all this preparation is 



ACCOUNTS 471 

made. Many parts of Arithmetic commonly taught at 
school are, to most persons, matters of mere cm-iosity. It 
is very well to learn them, if there be time enough, but to 
omit them would be no serious loss. While a knowledge 
of Accounts is necessary to every person who is likely ever 
to have property of his own, or the management of the 
properly of another. 

It is necessary to thrift. The merchant or dealer, on a 
large or small scale, cannot tell definitely whether the busi- 
ness he is engaged in is productive or not, unless he keeps 
an exact account of his payments and receipts. The farm- 
er cannot be sure how much more or less productive one 
branch of husbandry is than another, without an account of 
the outlay and income of both. 

It is necessary to economy. The minister, or clerk, or 
teacher on a salary, the head of a family with a limited 
income, or the mechanic with a fixed rate of wages, cannot 
tell what he can or ought to afford, what expenses he may 
allow, and what he must deny himself, imless he knows, 
from month to month, what is his income and what are his 
expenses. 

It is necessary to justice. Whoever deals on credit, 
even for a limited period, whoever receives or parts with 
money, goods, labour, or time, for which an equivalent is to 
be giA'en or received hereafter, must keep an exact account 
with every person with whom he deals, or have a memory 
from which no particular of time, place, quantity, or value 
can be erased, or he Avill necessarily run the risk of doing 
injustice to himself or his neighbour. If I have given my 
note or my promise to pay, I am bound to make timely pro 
vision beforehand for the resumption of my note and the re- 
demption of my promise. This I must do ; and this I can- 
not do with absolute certainty, unless I know precisely 
how much I may lay aside for the purpose each week or 
month, until the day of payment comes. If I look upon 



472 THE SCHOOL. 

what I haA'e as the gift of God, and myself as his steward, 
and therefore bound to devote what I can spare from the 
claims of family, kindred, and friends, to the relief of the 
sufferings, the wants, or the ignorance of His children, I 
cannot, without exactness in my accounts, be sure that I 
am opening my hand in charity without a violation of the 
more imperative demands of justice. 

Every one, therefore, should be taught accounts ; and the 
teacher should be prepared to explain such modes of keep- 
ing them as are best suited to the probable future condition 
of his pupils. This is not the place for a system of Book- 
keeping : it may be sufficient to say, that every person, 
male and female, should be taught how to keep personal 
accounts, and an account of the expenses of a family ; that, 
in addition to these, the future farmer should be shown how 
to keep accounts of a field or a particular crop, as well as 
of his whole operations ; that the mechanic should be taught 
to keep an account of the expenses and income of his shop 
or trade ; and the future merchant or trader should be taught 
book-keeping by double entry. 

Personal accounts may be taught on the blackboard to 
a class or the whole school at once. Care should be taken 
to explain familiarly what is meant by Dr. and Cr. ; a speci- 
men like the following should be given, and then each pupil 
be required, according to his capacity, to form similar ac- 
counts on his slate, and afterward on paper. 

Dr. John Thompson. Contra Cr. 

1842. 1842. 

May 20. To cash, $1 50 May 24. By 1 day's labour, Si 25 

21. To 2 bushels corn, 1 30 25. By 1 day's labour, 1 25 

To 3 yds. br'dcloth, 6 60 27. By \ ton hay, 4 00 

28. By cash to balance, 2 90 

$9 40 



GEOGRAPHY. 



473 



SPECIMEN OF A FARMER S FIELD ACCOUNT. 



Dr. The Five-acre Lot. 
1842. 

Apr. 11. To 3 days' plough- 
ing, $6 00 
12, 13. To 30 loads of ma- 
nure, 30 00 
14. To U days' harrow- 
ing, 3 00 
To 5 bush, seed wh., 5 50 
lug. To 3 days' reaping, 4 50 
To binding & carting, 4 00 
.>ept. To threshing, 6 00 
To interest on land, 5 00 
To balance gain, 19 00 

$83 00 



Contra, Cr. 
1842. 

Oct. 21, By 74 bushels 
wheat, 
By straw, 
By feeding, 



$74 00 

4 00 

5 00 



$83 00 



SECTION vni. GEOGRAPHY. 

" To the reading of history, chronology and geograpiiy are ahso- 
futely necessary." — Locke. 

The first lesson in Geography should be, to set the class 
to draw a plan, as well as they can, of the schoolroom. 
This every one will do readily who has been encouraged 
to use his slate, and many a child of eight or ten years will 
do it accurately, and even beautifully. It is only necessary 
that it should be done. Then the cardinal points, in refer- 
ence to the plan, should be shown. " This side, with the 
window, into which the sun shines in the morning, is the 
East side ; the opposite one is the West side. This side, 
where the sun shines straight in at noon, is the South side ; 
and the opposite side, where the master's desk is, is North. 
Let this north side be at the top of the plan. Now this is 
a map of the room. I have directed you all to have the 
north side at the top of your map, that all may be alike, and 
you may always know, when you look at it, wlrich is north." 
Any other explanations may be made that are necessary ; , 
as, that the seats in the northeast corner of the room are to 
Rr 2 



474 THE SCHOOL, 

be represented towards tlie top and towards the right side 
of the plan, &c. 

The next lesson may be a plan of the lot on which the 
schoolhouse stands, with a part of the road running near it, 
care being taken, now and at all times, to represent the 
north side by the top of the plan. The fences may be rep- 
resented by lines, and trees and other ol>jects may be drawn, 
as well as they can draw them, in the places they occupy. 

For a third lesson, the teachers may draw on the black- 
board a plan or map of the vicinity of the schoolhouse, 
with the roads for a quarter of a mile in each direction, and 
houses, streams, or any other remarkable object. This the 
class may copy. 

If there be a map of the town accessible, the next lesson 
should be an explanation of that ; showing how all the 
roads, buildings, forests, hills, and other objects with which 
the pupils are acquainted, are represented, and giving an 
idea of distance. 

The next step should be, if possible, a map of the coun- 
ty, showing how much less space the town now necessa- 
rily occupies, and what towns are north, east, &c., from it. 
The next step should be a map of the state ; and thence the 
progress should be to that of the country, of the continent, 
and the world as represented on a globe. 

It may not always be possible to take this course, li 
not, the nearest approach to it possible should be made. It 
is the natural method, — from the known and familiar, to the 
unknown. It is of the utmost importance that the first 
ideas and impressions should be correct and clear. This 
will throw light upon every future Step, and do more than 
anything else to render the study intelligible and delightful. 
I tried a similar method with one of my children with com- 
plete success. When I had taken him, then four or five 
years old and just able to read, to walk with me in the 
streets of Boston, I pointed out, at our return, on a map 



GEOGRAPHY. 475 

of the city, our path, the streets we had passed through, 
and the course Ave had taken. This was done after walks 
to all parts of the town. I then took him with me in my 
drives ; first to Brookline on one side of the town, and, suc- 
cessively, to Cambridge on another side, and to Chelsea 
Beach on a third ; pointing out each time, on our return, 
upon a map of Boston and its vicinity, t\^ roads we had 
taken and the places we had visited. He afterward ac- 
companied me on a journey to Maine, and I showed him, 
as before, on a map of New-England, the road and comrse 
we had taken, the towns we had passed through, and the 
rivers we had crossed. The same was done after a jour- 
ney to the western part of Massachusetts. He in this way 
obtained, from the beginning, correct impressions of the ob- 
jects which maps represent. He has always been, up to 
the present time, extremely fond of maps, pores over them 
for hours for his amusement, and always chooses to have one 
open before him as he reads history, Avhich is one of his 
favourite occupations. It will rarely happen that a teacher 
of a school can have so favourable opportunities for his pu- 
pils. But a parent who has the happiness of teaching his 
own children, may often have. 

When correct impressions have been given of the objects 
represented by maps, the geography of the state may be 
learned. Great care should be taken to give an idea of the 
motion of the earth on its axis, and thence of longitude and 
latitude, as there is nothing in geography of which children 
are so apt to get false ideas. For this purpose, a globe 
should be considered an essential part of the apparatus of 
a school. Much time is usually spent, to little purpose, in 
learning the names of unloiown, and, therefore, speedily-for- 
gotten places ; and still more in studying and trying to re- 
member the climate, soil, cities, &c., of countries. It is 
nearly impossible for a child to remember, by an absolute 
effort, that with which he has no associations. It should, 



476 THE SCHOOL. 

then, be the object of the teacher to connect what is learn- 
ed with what is already known, and to give agTeeable asso- 
ciations to be connected with things unknown. 

The learner should from the beginning, if possible, be set 
to copy the maps he is studying. This act impresses on 
the mind the outlines, boundaries, rivers, hills, lakes, and 
position of towns, better than any other exercise, and it is 
far more agreeable to the learner. Out of a large number 
of pupils who have been taught in this way, not one has 
been found incapable of making pretty correct representa- 
tions, not one who did not take great pleasure in the exer- 
cise, and not one who did not improve in it very rapidly. 
When each one of a class has drawn a map without any 
names, a satisfactory examination as to how much they 
know of the objects represented, may be made in a very short 
time. This may be conducted either individually, each 
looking at his own map, or by means of the excellent out 
line maps of Mather, prepared for this purpose. 

For each lesson in Geography the teacher should make 
special preparation. If he will do this, he may always ren- 
der the exercise very interesting, and he may jnake it the 
vehicle of a great deal of instruction in history, morals, and 
civilization. Suppose, to give an instance or two, the les- 
son included Iceland. He may take the occasion to speak 
of its extraordinary natural features — a small land, and yet 
traversed by almost impassable mountains and deserts ; of 
its icebergs, and of the immense eruptions of its volcanoes. 
He may dwell upon that phenomenon in the history of man- 
kind, that while learning hardly dared to lift her head in the 
rest of Europe, she had her home in the ice-encircled and 
half-subterranean huts of the Icelanders ; that they had po- 
ets and historians when the names poet and historian were 
hardly elsewhere loiown ; and he may tell of its colonization 
by the sea-kings, its early history, and the state of things at 
that time in the north of Eiurope. All this he may get by 



GEOGRAPHY. 477 

an evening's reading of the interesting volume on Iceland, 
which forms the 155th No. of the School District Library. 

If the lesson is upon Greece,* he may give, in a few 
words, some idea of the remarkable people who occupied 
that country in ancient times, the fathers of the arts, scien- 
ces, and literature, the remarkable institutions, the immense 
and beautiful structures, the perfect language, the famous 
men. 

In the Geography of New-England, he may speak of 
the early acts of the Revolution at Lexington or Charles- 
town, and the earlier events at Plymouth or Mount Hope ; 
on New- York, of Ticonderoga, West Point, &c. In speak- 
ing of our early history or late, he should not fail to speak 
a word for humanity in pointing out the cruelty and injus- 
tice of our ancestors and their descendants to the present 
day towards the original possessors of the soil. 

There is scarcely anything which a studious person 
picks up in voyages and travels, histories, books of geolo- 
gy and natural history,! which may not be naturally intro- 
duced to give variety and interest to the lessons in geogra- 
phy. After he has talked himself, he should question his 
pupils upon what he has said, both to quicken their atten- 
tion and to get access to their understanding. The lessons 
may be varied by sometimes setting the class to find out 
from what parts of the world come the various articles em- 
ployed for food, dress, furniture, and the several arts ; making 
an imaginary voyage round the world or to a particular 
port, and noting the objects which would present them- 
selves, and the articles which would be found and those 
which it would be necessary to carry. Another lesson, or 

* See Goldsmith's Greece, in the 81st No. of School District Li- 
brary, or the 3d and 4th volumes of RoUin's Ancient History. 

t Many curious facts on the subjects of Natural History may be 
found in that delightful work, White's History of Selborne, School 
District Library, No. 166. 



478 THE SCHOOL. 

several, may be given upon the government of different 
countries ; upon their religion, their intelligence, their com- 
merce, and other pursuits. The comparative value of gold 
and silver, on the one hand, and iron and industry on the 
other, may be shown by pointing out the fact that there is 
scarcely an instance in history of a country having grown 
rich from the possession of mines of what are called the 
precious metals, and none naturally so sterile as not to have 
become independent and wealthy, with industry and such 
resources as iron, coal, and salt. Mexico, Peru, and Old 
Spain are wretched and poor, with streams of gold and sil- 
ver flowing into them for hundreds of years ; and Scotland, 
New-England, and Old England, comparatively barren ori- 
ginally, have become rich, and the happy abodes of free 
and intelligent men, by the industry and energy of their in- 
habitants acting upon such productions as nothing but skill 
and slow labour can work out for the necessities and con- 
venience of men 

A more difficult exercise than copying maps, and one 
suited to a higher state of progress, is requiring a class to 
be prepared to draw a map, from recollection, on the slate 
or blackboard. In this exercise, which is strongly to be 
recommended, at its proper time, much allowance must be 
made for the difference that exists between individuals 
otherwise equal, as to the power of representing from mem- 
ory. Unless regard be had to this difference, injustice will 
be done to the best intentions and efforts. 

A method used with great success by Professor Newman 
at the normal school at Barre, was to call on one of the 
class to draw an outline of the country on the blackboard. 
A second was to draw the river courses and lakes ; a third 
the mountains. A fourth mentioned some large place ; a 
fifth gave its position by writing 1 on the blackboard ; a 
sixth named a second place, which a seventh indicated by 
2. In this way all the important places were represented 



HISTORY. 479 

Dy numbers, and the examination of the topography was 
conckided by calHng individuals at random to name the 
several places so indicated. 

SECTION IX. HISTORY. 

" Histories make men wise." — Bacon. 

History cannot be fully taught at any school. All that 
can be accomplished in regard to the history of any other 
country than our own, is to give sketches or pictures of 
certain important periods or events. The abridgments and 
compends of history often used, do little rnore than disgust 
children with the study. The teacher's object should be to 
give them such pictures as will win them to it. 

Some idea of the most important periods of history might 
be given in connexion with the lives of certain individuals. 
Such are the following. After the interesting events re- 
corded in the first chapters of Genesis : 

The patriarchal period, as given in the lives of Abraham, 
Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, of which a portion only should be 
read in school. The personal history of Moses, of David, 
and of Solomon. All these are to be found only in the Old 
Testament. 

The life of Hector and that of Ulysses, as given by 
Homer, in Pope's Homer. The life of Xerxes.* Pericles.* 
Alexander of Macedon.f 

Romulus and Numa.| Brutus, the first consul.^: Han- 
nibal and Scipio Africanus.J Pompey, Cresar, Cicero.} 
Augustus. :{: 

The coming of Jesus Christ. Constantine.^ Attila.§ 
Mohammed. II Clovis.lT Charlemagne. H Alfred. Haroun 

* Goldsmith, 81st No. School District Library, or Plutarch's Lives 
t Rev. J. Williams, 32d No. School District Library, t Goldsmith, 
87th No. School District Library, or Plutarch's Lives. ^ History of 
Italy, Family Library, No. 79. II Bush's Life of Mohammed, Family 
Library, No. 10, or the History of Arabia, No. 68. IT James. Fam- 
ily Library, No. 60, School District Library, No. 176. 



480 THE SCHOOL. 

al Raschid. Peter the Hermit.* Ricliard the Lion-heart- 
ed.* Saladin.* William the Conqueror.f Cosmo de Med- 
ici. Columbus.J Luther. § Cromwell. || William the Third. 
Peter the Great,^ and others for later times. 

The life of Washington, which may be foimd, fully enough 
delineated, in the volumes of Paulding in the School District 
Library, or with much more of detail in Marshall, will suffice 
to give an outline of the history of our country immediately 
previous to and during the Revolution ; as the life of Napo- 
leon Bonaparte, also contained in the first series of the 
School District Library, may give of the French Revolution. 
But there is no one volume which contains all, or even the 
greater part of the lives above enumerated. They must be 
collected from various sources, and the teacher must take 
pain^ to prepare such accounts as he can either read, or 
give in his own language. History, for the use of the 
young especially, is still to be written. As it now stands, 
it is occupied, in an absurdly undue proportion, with wars, 
and the ambition and dissensions of the falsely-called great. 
What relates to the advancement of society, what shows 
the progress of the sciences and the useful and the fine arts, 
and the records of the various stages in the personal liber- 
ty, rights, and enjoyments of individual man, must be la- 
boriously gleaned from distant sources.** You will find 

* See " Chivalry," an interesting work by James, School District 
Library, No. 26. t For the life of William the Conqueror, and the 
other characters referred to belonging to English history, see Keight- 
ley. School District Library, 102, 3, 4, 5, 6. t Irving ; or Belknap, 
in 146th No. School District Library. § See Luther's Life and 
Times. 11 See his life, by Rev. M. Russell, in the 36th and 37th 
numbers of the School District Library. IF See Barrow's life of him, 
in the 35th No. of the School District Library. 

** In order to enable him to understand and explain many things 
in History and Geography, the teacher should have some acquaint- 
ance with political economy. This he may get from Dr. Potter's 
work on that subject, School District Library, No. 124. 



HISTORY. 481 

some very interesting periods in the history of science and 
literature sketched in the Lives of the Philosophers, by 
Fenelon ;* Brewster's Life of Sir Isaac Newton ;t in the 
Martyrs of Science, by the same author ;:|: in Franklin's 
Life ;^ and in the lives of Johnson || and Goldsmith. T[ 

History is usually taught by assigning a certain number 
of pages in some text-book, and requiring the class to an- 
swer questions in them. The questions are either prepa- 
red and known beforehand to the pupil, or are such as the 
teacher pleases to ask at the time of recitation. The dan- 
ger incident to the use of prepared questions is, that the 
pupil will commit to memory just such a portion of the text- 
book as furnishes answers. This process gives no exer- 
cise to discrimination, judgment, taste, or language. It is 
a mere exercise of memory. The other mode is apt to be 
so too. The faithful and ambitious pupil will be tempted 
to commit the whole lesson to memory, and to answer in 
the words of the author. To prevent this waste of time, 
the teacher should encourage his pupils to answer in their 
own language. He should also ask questions of a general 
nature, such as, What is the subject of this lesson ? or this 
chapter ? State, in a few words, the events recorded in it. 
What should we think of this measure ? What of that 
character ? Questions of right and wrong should be con- 
stantly brought up in lessons in history. 

As we can teach so little of History at school, one ob- 
ject should be to show how it should be studied ; another, 
as I have already said, to create an interest in the study. 
It may serve, at the same time, to exercise the attention, 
the power of orderly arrangement, the moral judgment, and 
the use of language in narration. To answer these ends, 
it is best taught without a text-book, the teacher himself 

* School District Library, No. 156. t Ibid., No. 27. 

t Ibid., No. 152. ^ Ibid., No. 51. II Ibid., No. 132. 

IT Ibid., No. 109. 

S s 



482 THE SCHOOL. 

making the whole preparation. The pupils should be fur- 
nished with maps, or a large map should be suspended be- 
fore them by the side of the blackboard. If the pupils 
have no suitable maps, and that of the teacher be on too 
small a scale for exhibition to a class, he should draw on 
the blackbcmrd a magnified outline of the seat of the event 

Care should first be taken to give an idea of the remote- 
ness of the event to be described, by tracing a line on 
the blackboard, to represent two or more years, and show- 
ing how long it would be necessarry to draw it to represent 
the period which has elapsed since the event occurred. 
The date may be given on the blackboard, and the place 
may be pointed out on the map, or mentioned, and the pu- 
pil allowed to find it for himself. The teacher may then 
read, or, what is far better, narrate in familiar language, 
and in the manner of conversation, the event, or series of 
events, which he intends to make the subject of the lesson. 
If his pupils are beginners, he should not speak long before 
asking questions as to what he has been telling. If these 
are made frequent, the pupil will be encouraged to give his 
attention to the end. The questions, who ? and where ? 
and when ? as Avell as what ? should be asked. When 
the teacher's narrative is finished, he should ask if some 
one will not imdertake to tell the whole story in his own 
language. Those who have the best talent for narrative 
will be ready to do this, and, after some little practice, 
nearly the whole class. Or the teacher may say, " I wish 
you all to write upon your slates or paper, and bring to me 
to-morrow, what you can remember of the story I have just 
told you." Questions should also be asked as to the moral 
right or wrong of the characters of the actois in the event. 

Let not the teacher be discouraged by the slow progress 
he seems to make. In the usual mode of teaching Histo- 
ry, two or three hours are often spent by the pupil out of 
school, and half an hour, or an hour, at the recitation in 



PHYSIOLOGY. 483 

school, upon a single lesson of six or eight pages ; and, af- 
ter all, very little is learned except mere facts, and those 
perhaps indistinct and barren ; while in this way, in half 
an hour, two or three pages at first, and afterward five or 
six, or even ten; will be learned, and at the same time the 
power of attention be improved, the moral tat .e elevated, 
the power of narration exercised, and the connexion be- 
tween History, and Chronology and Geography will be 
shown. 

In the introduction to the excellent School History of the 
United States, by Hall and Baker, are some judicious di- 
rections as to teaching History by means of text-books, 
which are deserving of great attention. 

SECTION X. PHYSIOLOGY. 

" There is no mystery into which mankind are more curious to 
pry, than into that of their internal structure ; and certainly there 
is none on earth which so nearly concerns them." — E. Johnson. 

Next in importance to the indispensable arts which are 
at the base of all instruction, and before Geography and 
History, is Physiolog)', the laws of our own constitution. 
In some form it should be taught in every school. I have 
already shown how it may be taught in the general lessons. 
When it can be done, it should be introduced as a regular 
study. As in importance, so in interest and in the exercise 
it gives to the observant and reflecting powers, it is second 
to no other. 

There are several good works upon the subject published 
in this country, — Hayward, Coates, and Andrew Combe. 
Neither of these is complete. The last seems best suited 
for study in school, although the first is most elementary. 
The teacher should have the two ; and if he uses one as his 
class-book, should take the other to help him supply its de- 
ficiencies. 

Physiology may be taught in the same way as history, 



484 THE SCHOOL. 

the teacher only having the book and requiring attention, 
and asking all the necessary questions ; or, if there be not 
time for this, all may have books, and come prepared for ex- 
amination in an assigned portion. Take care that they 
learn not words only. Insist upon answers in their own 
language. In the case of muscles, and bones, and in what- 
ever else it can with perfect delicacy be done, let the learner 
find what is described in his own body. The great princi- 
ples should be frequently brought up, and made familiar by 
daily repetition. If so, they will become an integrant part 
of the pupil's knowledge ; and none is more essential, or 
more fruitful of beneficial effects. 

A useful exercise in composition is an enumeration of the 
most important principles on a particular part of Physiology, 
in the learner's own language ; or his inferences from one 
or more ; or a more general enumeration of the leading 
principles of the science. 

SECTION XI. COMPOSITION. 

" What is this power which puts us in possession of the future, — 
transports us to all distances, — makes us conceive objects invisible 
to sense, — introduces us to what is merely possible, — sustains our 
strength by hope, — extends the narrow sphere of our existence be- 
yond the limits of the present 1 May it not, by deepening the 
sources of our sensibility, fertilize the field of our virtue V — Dege- 

EANDO. 

The modes recommended for teaching reading, spelling, 
English Grammar, History, and Physiology, all furnish ex- 
ercises in composition. If those modes be faithfully and 
fairly tried, there will be little difficulty, to the pupil suffi- 
ciently advanced, in the essay or theme as usually required. 
But, for the benefit of those teachers who are unable or un- 
willing to depart so far from usual methods as to adopt 
these, a few observations upon composition will be given, 
and exercises or steps pointed out which have been inferred 
from, and have stood the test of experience. 1. Simple 



COMPOSITION. 485 

sentences are to be written. Several words are given, and 
the pupils are required to write a sentence so as to bring in 
one or more of them. Phrases are given for the same pur- 
pose, or sentences in which several words are omitted, 
which the pupil is to supply. 2. Variety of arrangement is 
taught by arranging a sentence in several different w^ays, 
and assigning others for practice. 3. Variety of expression 
is taught by showing how the participle may be substituted 
for a conjunction, by changing an active verb into a passive, 
and the reverse, by the substitution of nearly synonymous 
■words, by circumlocution, and by softened expressions. 4. 
Compound sentences are reduced to simple ones, and these 
united into compound ones. 5. Poetical sentences are 
given, to be expressed in prose. 6. The definition of words 
may be given in a sentence, and several sentences may be 
written to show the difference in the meaning of two words. 
7. A short story is told, which the pupil must write in his 
own language. The heads of a story only are given, which 
the learner is to make into a connected narrative, or to am- 
plify from his own imagination. 8. Objects are assigned, 
to be described. 9. The figures of speech, tropes, meta- 
phors, allegories, hyperbole, personification, apostrophe, 
simile, antithesis, climax, &c., are successively explained, 
and suitable sentences or subjects are suggested, on which 
they may be exemplified. 10. Simple and compound 
themes and essays are explained, models are given, and ex- 
ercises are required. The above is a rapid outline of 
*' Parker's Progressive Exercises in English Composition," 
a valuable aid, even where the teacher is only disposed to 
take hints from it. 

A very useful exercise in composition, after the pupil 
can make sentences, is writing abstracts of sermons or lec- 
tures. In this, attention, the power of arrangement, and 
the use of language are exercised, while the thoughts are 
furnished. It is adapted to one who is almost a beginner, 
S s 2 



486 THE SCHOOL. 

and is at the same time an excellent practice for an accom- 
plished writer. 

Descriptions of objects in nature or art, of the mill or 
the manufactory, the village, a walk in the forest, the rising 
of the sun, the stillness of night, a storm, a sunny day, a 
drive, of any object or event which is calculated to interest 
the feelings or awaken thought, are obvious and suitable ex- 
ercises. Familiar letters to friends, imaginary ones to the 
birds or the stars, to characters in history or in distant 
parts of the earth ; journals of occurring events ; criticism 
upon works that have been read ; opinions upon subjects 
that have been discussed in school ; upon those suggested 
by the daily studies ; — these will be interesting to children, 
will be felt to be within their capacity, and will exercise 
their judgment and their imagination. There are usually 
several in every school who have a talent for versification, 
and nearly all may be made to measure syllables and col- 
lect rhymes. Such trials should be encouraged, chiefly on 
account of the greater pleasure they give to the reading of 
poetry.* 

The above are offered as methods of teaching which 
have been found successful ; not as the best possible, but 
as somewhat better than many of those now in common 
use. They are all susceptible of improvement, and the at- 
tention of all teachers is invited to the subject of improving 
them. 

"Whoever examines schools, Avill see at once that they 
may be elevated to a much higher rank than they now hold. 

* It may be asked why I say nothing in regard to the study of 
Logic and Metaphysics, so common in many schools : I answer, in 
the words of Milton, that " I deem it to be an old error of univer- 
sities" (and it would be a much greater in schools) " not yet well 
recovered from the scholastic grossness of barbarous ages, that, in- 
stead of beginning with arts most easy, they present their young 
unmatriculated novices at first coming with the most intellective 
abstractions of liOgic and Metaphysics," 



GOVERNMENT. 487 

By the introduction of improved methods of teaching ; by 
the employment of qualified and devoted teachers, espe- 
cially, of highly qualified and endowed female teachers 
for the lower schools ; by a better selection of studies 
and the omission of those which have hitherto occupied 
much time to little purpose ; by a greater interest on the 
part of the community, and the consequent" improvement 
of the schoolhouses and the apparatus of teaching, all the 
schools in the state may be made much better than the best 
at present are. I see no reason why the public schools 
should not be better than any private now are ; why the 
children of the great body of the people of the state should 
not have as good an education as the most favoured have. 
This may be done. The schools may all be improved. 
Step by step, they may rise higher than any one now 
dreams. 



CHAPTER IV. 



SECTION I. GOVERNMENT. 



" The construction of a system of education cannot be a creative, 
but an imitative process, which must be founded only on the lessons 
of experience. Here, as in the cultivation of every other science, 
it is not by the exercise of a sublime and speculative ingenuity that 
man arrives at truth, but it is by letting himself down to simple ob- 
servation ; — in short, by following only the lights of observation and 
induction." — Spurzheim. 

The art of governing a school naturally divides itself 
into, 1. The preservation of order ; 2. The prevention of 
wrong ; 3. Incitement to study. 

Towards the accomplishment of all these the first requi- 
site is to render your school pleasant. How is this to be 
done ? 



488 THE SCHOOL 

There are some mistakes upon this point, which must be 
corrected. The unpleasantness of a schoolroom is some- 
times attributed to the order, silence, and study which are 
made to prevail there. 1. Order is not impleasant. The 
orderly proceeding of a well-regulated school, the quiet suc- 
cession of one thing to another at its proper time, the see- 
ing everythin'g in its place, — all these are pleasant. To 
most persons, order is pleasant. 2. Silence is not unpleas- 
ant. On the contrary, as it is beneficial to all, it is suit- 
able, and therefore pleasant. 3. Study is not unpleasant. 
When the thing studied is understood, nothing is more 
pleasant. It is the exercise of one or more faculty, which 
is the very essence of happiness. It is unpleasant only 
when long continued on one subject. It should therefore 
be varied ; for little children, as often, perhaps, as every 
half hour ; for older ones, as often as every hour. Day after 
day, at the same hour, the same study should be resumed, 
but should not be allowed to be continued too long at once 
If so resumed, it becomes daily more easy. Just as, in any 
manual operation, the fingers or the hands gradually get ac- 
customed to exercise, and perform it more readily the longer 
it has been pursued, so does any faculty of the mind. Chil- 
dren are variously constituted in this respect ; some grow 
weary much sooner than others. An exercise should cease 
before any one has become weary. 

Restraint, unnecessary or too long continued, becomes 
wearisome. Every young person is impatient of it ; the 
law of his whole nature requires action. The younger 
the child, the greater the impatience of restraint and con- 
finement. There must therefore be breaks and recesses ; 
for very young children as often as once in an hour ; for all, 
as often as once in two or two and a half hours. 

Uneasy positions are and ought to be unpleasant. Care 
should therefore be taken that the seats be convenient, of a 
proper height, and provided with a back. An ill-ventilated 



GOVERNMENT. 489 

room is unpleasant. Take care that yours be well venti- 
lated. Harshness is unpleasant ; scolding, in man or wom- 
an, is excessively unpleasant. Avoid both, and learn to 
govern yourself, and to win by kindness and by reason. 
Mere repetition of lessons is monotonous ; break its dull- 
ness by introducing variety. Study the lesson of the class, 
and make it pleasanter by making it clearer. 

The first work of a teacher, when preparing to go into 
school, is with himself. The success of the da^and the 
happiness of the school depend in a great degree upon the 
temper he carries into school. This is particularly impor- 
tant on the opening of the school. Let him be careful to 
make, if possible, an agreeable impression then. His pu- 
pils, full of expectation and curiosity, are watching every 
motion and look, and listening to every word, to gather 
omens of their future fortune, hoping or fearing, as these 
elements predominate in their character, but almost sure 
lo like or dislike according to the first impression. Let 
the teacher take care that their first impression be, that 
he is a kind and generous person, who feels a great interest 
in their welfare, but one of finnness and resolution, who 
will not allow anything wrong. Many years ago the mas- 
tership of a public school in a town in New-England be- 
came vacant by the dismission of a worthless teacher. A 
successor was appointed and introduced into his new office 
with some ceremony, an address from the chairman of the 
school committee, one from himself, and other formalities. 
The boys, who had long been accustomed to the loosest dis- 
cipline, and many of whom had learned to like the state of 
anarchy which had prevailed, determined, as soon as the 
company and the committee should retire, to try the spirit 
of their new master. Accordingly, as the door was shut, 
they began to make a noise with their feet, in preparation 
for more decided measures. Mr. G., the new master, who 
had waited upon the company to the door, turned towards 



490 THE SCHOOL. 

them, and in a perfectly kind manner, but with a tone of au- 
thority which every boy in the room felt and understood, 
tapped slightly upon the floor and said, " Order, boys." 
The effect was instantaneous. Unaffected kindness and 
firmness not to be trifled with were so clearly expressed, that 
every one felt that the reign of anarchy had ceased. 

One of a teacher's first duties is cheerfulness. If he can 
enter upon his labours with cheerful alacrity, he will do much 
toward^^ccess. The cheerfulness of the master, like the 
sun, fills everything with warmth, and he will see it reflect- 
ed from every face. The first word he utters, the first look 
he casts upon many a child, gives the tone to its feelings for 
the day. What matter the storm and the drift without, if he 
can meet the sunshine of a cheerful teacher's face within 1 
That warms and makes pleasant the room, for it warms the 
hearts of the little company. Hence, I repeat it, health, 
the essential prerequisite of cheerfulness, is a duty, and all 
which is necessary to secure it is a law which he must 
obey. God loveth a cheerful giver ; and nowhere is this 
more true than where the gift is moral guidance and the 
light of intelligence. 

It is a difficult thing to enter upon the scene of so much 
labour, anxiety, and disappointment as a school often is, 
with a cheerful temper. There are some there, he thinks, 
who are cold and indifllerent, who care nothing for him or 
any of his plans for their good. There may be those whom 
he knows to be adverse to him, to hate him, and to be seek- 
ing to thwart his plans and prevent his success. To go 
among such with confidence, and kindness, and cheerful- 
ness ; to leave behind all resentment, all selfishness, all 
despondency, is very difficult. But so must we overcome 
evil with good. They are children. There is something 
at the bottom of their hearts which will respond to all our 
kindness. There is something which will take sides with 
us against whatever is wrong in themselves. If we go in, 
the true spirit of our calling, we shall be able to turn aver 



GOVERNMENT. 491 

sion into favour, hate into love, and indifference into inter- 
est. And in doing this, we not only accomplish our imme- 
diate ends, we work out the higher good of repressing the 
evil and awakening the good tendencies of their character, 
while we do this in a still greater degTee for ourselves. 

Order should be secured by the general arrangements of 
the school. Children must not be left unemployed. When 
so left, they are almost sure to fall into mischief, or what a 
teacher calls such, to relieve themselves from the listless- 
ness of idleness. If they cannot be employed, they should 
be dismissed, or allowed to take a recess. Children are 
often confined in school after their lessons are learned and 
said, from a feeling that it is a waste of time to let them go. 
It should be understood that it is a much greater waste to 
oblige them to remain unoccupied. When it can be done, 
the lower classes should be dismissed at an earlier hour 
than the upper, that a portion of time may be given uninter- 
ruptedly to the latter. 

The following excellent observations are from a teacher* 
who was distinguished for his success in obtaining a moral 
influence over his pupils : 

" In endeavouring to correct the faults of your pupils, do 
not, as many teachers do, seize only upon those particular 
cases of transgression which may happen to come imder 
your notice. These individual instances are very few, 
probably, compared with the whole number of faults against 
which you ought to exert an influence. And though you, 
perhaps, ought not to neglect those which may accidentally 
come under your notice, yet the observing and punishing 
such cases is a very small part of your duty. 

" You accidentally hear, I will suppose, as you are walk- 
ing home from school, two of your boys in earnest conver- 
sation, and one of them uses profane language. Noav the 
course to be pursued in such a case is most evidently not 
* Mr. Abbott, the author of " The Teacher." 



492 THE SCHOOL. 

to call the boy to you the next day and punish him, and 
there let the matter rest. This would perhaps be better 
than nothing. But the chief impression which it would 
make upon the individual, and upon the other scholars, 
would be, ' I must take care how I let the master hear me 
use such language again.' A wise teacher, who takes en- 
larged and extended views of his duty in regard to the 
moral progress of his pupils, would act very differently. He 
would look at the whole subject. ' Does this fault,' he 
would say to himself, ' prevail among my pupils ? If so, 
how extensively V It is comparatively of little consequence 
to punish the particular transgression. The great point is 
to devise some plan to reach the whole evil, and to correct 
it, if possible. 

■' In one case, where such a circumstance occurred, the 
teacher managed it most successfully in the following way : 

" He said nothing to the boy, and, in fact, the boy did 
not know that he was overheard. He allowed a day or 
two to elapse, so that the conversation might be forgotten, 
and then took an opportunity, one day after school, when 
all things had gone on pleasantly, and the school was about 
to be closedj to bring forward the whole subject. He told 
the boys that he had something to say to them, after they 
had laid by their books and were ready to go. The desks 
Avere soon closed, and every face in the room was turned 
towards the master with a look of fixed attention. It was 
almost evening. The sun had gone down. The boys' la- 
bours were over. The day was done, and their minds were 
at rest, and everything was favourable for making a deep 
and permanent impression. 

" ' A few days ago,' says the teacher, when all was still, 
' I accidentally overheard some conversation between two 
of the boys of this school, and one of them swore.' 

" There was a pause. 

" ' Perhaps you expect that I am now going to call the 
boy out and punish him. Is that what I ought to do Y 



GOVERNMENT. 493 

" There was no answer. 

" ' I think a boy who uses bad language of any kind does 
what he knows is wrong. He breaks God's commands. 
He does what he knows would be displeasing to his pa- . 
rents, and he sets a bad example. He does wrong, there- 
fore, and justly deserves punishment.' 

" There were, of course, many boys who felt that they 
were in danger. Every one who had used profane language 
was aware that he might be the one who had been over- 
heard, and, of course, all were deeply interested in what 
the teacher was saying. 

" ' He might, I say,' continues the teacher, ' justly be 
punished, but I am not going to punish liim ; for, if I should, 
I am afraid that it would only make him a little more care- 
ful hereafter not to commit this sin when I could possibly 
be within hearing, instead of persuading him, as I wish to, 
to avoid such a sin in future altogether. I am satisfied that 
that boy would be far happier, even in this world, if he 
would make it a principle always to do his duty, and never, 
in any case, to do wrong. And then, when I think how 
soon he and all of us will be in another world, where we 
shall all be judged for what we do here, I feel strongly de- 
sirous of persuading him to abandon entirely this practice 
I am afraid that punishing him now would not do that. 

'.' ' Besides,' continues the teacher, ' I think it very prob- 
able -that there are many other boys in this school who are 
sometimes guilty of this fault, and I have thought that it 
would be a great deal better and happier for us all, if, in- 
stead of punishing this particular boy, whom I have acci- 
dentally overheard, and who, probably, is not more to blame 
than many other boys in school, I should bring up the whole 
subject, and endeavour to persuade all to reform.' 

" I am aware that there are, unfortunately, in our country 
a great many teachers from whose lips such an appeal as 
this would be wholly in vain. The man who is accustom- 
Tt 



494 THE SCHOOL. 

ed to scold, and storm, and punish, with unsparing severity, 
every transgression, under the influence of irritation and 
anger, must not expect that he can win over his pupils to 
confidence in him, and to the principles of duty, by a word. 
But such an appeal will not be lost when it comes from a 
man whose daily and habitual management corresponds 
with it. But to return to the story. 

" The teacher made some farther remarks, explaining the 
nature of the sin, not in the language of execration and af- 
fected abhorrence, but calmly, temperately, and without 
any disposition to make the worst of the occurrence which 
had taken place. In concluding what he said, he address- 
ed the boys as follows : 

" ' Now, boys, the question is, do you wish to abandon 
this habit, or not ? if you do, all is well. I shall immedi- 
ately forget all the past, and will do all I can to help you 
resist and overcome temptation in future. But all I can do 
is only to help you ; and the first thing to be done, if you 
wish to engage in this work of reform, is to acknowledge 
your fault ; and I should like to know how many are will- 
ing to do this. 

" ' I wish all those who are willing to tell me whether 
they use profane language, would rise.' 

" Every individual but one rose. 

" ' I am very glad to see so large a number,' said the 
teacher ; ' and I hope you will find that the work of con- 
fessing and forsaking your faults is, on the whole, pleas- 
ant, not painful business. Now, those Avho can truly and 
honestly say that they never do use profane language of 
any kind may take their seats.' 

" Three only of the whole number, which consisted of 
not far from 20, sat down. It was in a seaport town, 
where the temptation to yield to this vice is even greater 
than would be, in the interior of our country, supposed pos- 
sible. 



GOVERNMENT. 495 

" ' Those who are now standing,' pursued the teacher, 
' admit that they do, sometimes at least, commit this sin 
I suppose all, however, are determined to reform ; for I do 
not know what else should induce you to rise and acknowl 
edge it here, vmless it is a desire hereafter to break your- 
selves of the habit. But do you suppose that it will be 
enough for you merely to resolve here that you will re- 
form V 

" ' No, sir,' said the boys. 

" ' Why ? If you now sincerely determine never more to 
use a profane word, will you not easily avoid it V 

" The boys were silent. Some said faintly, ' No, sir.' 

" ' It will not be easy for you to avoid the sin hereafter,' 
continued the teacher, ' even if you do now sincerely and 
resolutely determine to do so. You have formed the habit 
of sin, and the habit will not be easily overcome. But I 
have detained you long enough now. I will try to devise 
some method by which you may carry your plan into effect, 
and to-morrow I will tell you what it is.' 

" So they were dismissed for the day ; the pleasant 
countenance and cheerful tone of the teacher conveying to 
them the impression that they were engaging in the com- 
mon effort to accomplish a most desirable purpose, in which 
they Avere to receive the teacher's help ; not that he was 
pursuing them, with threatening and punishment, into the 
forbidden practices into which they had wickedly strayed 
Great caution is, however, in such a case, necessary to 
guard against the danger, that the teacher, in attempting to 
avoid the tones of irritation and anger, should so speak of 
the sin as to blunt their sense of its guilt, and lull their 
consciences into a slumber. 

" At the appointed time on the follo\ving day, the subject 
was again brought before the school, and some plans pro- 
posed, by which the resolutions now formed might be 
more certainly kept. These plans were readily and cheer- 



496 THE SCHOOL. 

fully adopted by the boys, and in a short time the vice of 
profaneness was, in a great degree, banished from the 
school. This whole account is substantially fact. 

" I hope the reader will keep in mind the object of the 
above illustration, which is to show that it is the true poli- 
cy of the teacher not to waste his time and strength in 
contending against such accidental instances of transgres- 
sion as may chance to fall under his notice, but to take an 
enlarged and extended view of the whole ground, endeav- 
ouring to remove wkole classes of faults, — to elevate and 
improve multitudes together. 

" By these means, his labours will not only be more ef- 
fectual, but far more pleasant. You cannot come into col- 
lision with an individual scholar, to punish him for a mis- 
chievous spirit, or even to rebuke him for some single act 
by which he has given you trouble, without an uncomforta- 
ble and uneasy feeling, which makes, in ordinary cases, 
the discipline of a school the most unpleasant part of a 
teacher's duty. But you can plan a campaign against a 
■whole class of faults, and put into operation a system of 
measures to correct them, and watch from day to day the 
operation of that system, with all the spirit and interest of 
a game. It is, in fact, a game where your ingenuity and 
moral power are brought into the field, in opposition to the 
evil tendencies of the hearts which are under your influence. 
" Remember, then, as, for the first time, you take your new 
station, that it is not your duty simply to watch with an 
eagle eye for those accidental instances of trangression 
which may chance to fall under your notice. You are to 
look over the whole ground. You are to make yourself ac- 
quainted, as soon as possible, with the classes of character 
and classes of faults which may prevail in your dominions, 
and to form deliberate and well-digested plans for impro- 
ving the one and correcting the other. 

" And this is to be the course pursued, not only with 



GOVERNMENT. 497 

great delinquencies, such as those to which I have akeady 
alluded, but to every little transgression against the rules 
of order and propriety. You can correct them far more 
easily and pleasantly in the mass than in detail. 

" You avoid, by this means, a vast amount of irritation 
and impatience, both on your own part and on the part of 
your scholars, and you produce at least twenty times the 
usual effect." 

" Everything which is unpleasant in the discipline of the 
school should be attended to, as far as possible, privately. 
Sometimes it is necessary to bring a case forward in public 
for reproof or punishment, but this is seldom. In some 
schools it is the custom to postpone cases of discipline till 
the close of the day, and then, just before the boys are dis* 
missed at night, all the difficulties are settled. Thus, day 
after day, the impression which is last made upon their 
minds is received from a season of suffering, and terror, and 
tears. 

" Now such a practice may be attended with many ad* 
vantages, but it seems to be, on the whole, unwise. Awing 
the pupils by showing them the consequences of doing 
wrong should be very seldom resorted to. It is far better 
to allure them by showing them the pleasures of doing right. 
Doing right is pleasant to everybody, and no persons are so 
easily convinced of this, or, rather, so easily led to see it, as 
children. Now the true policy is, to let them experience 
the pleasure of doing their duty, and they will easily be al' 
lured to it. 

" I am next to consider what course is to be taken with 
individual offenders, whom the general influences of the 
schoolroom will not control. 

" The first point to be attended to is to ascertain who 
they are. Not by appearing suspiciously to watch any in- 
dividuals, for this would be almost sufficient to make them 
bad, if they were not so before. Observe, however ; no- 
T T 2 



498 ^ THE SCHOOL. 

tice, from day to day, the conduct of individuals, not for ths 
purpose of reproving or punishing their faults, but to enable 
you to understand their characters. This work will often 
require great adroitness and very close scrutiny ; and you 
will find, as the results of it, a considerable variety of char- 
acter, which the general influences above described Avill 
not be sufficient to control. The number of individuals will 
not be great, but the diversity of character comprised in it 
will be such as to call into exercise all your powers of vigi- 
lance and discrimination. 

" Now all these characters must be studied. It is true 
that the caution given in a preceding part of this chapter, 
against devoting undue and disproportionate attention to 
such persons, must not be forgotten. Still, these individuals 
will require, and it is right that they should receive, a far 
greater degree of attention, so far as the moral administra- 
tion of the school is concerned, than their mere numbers, 
would appear to justify. This is the field, in which the 
teacher is to study human nature, for here it shows itself 
without disguise. It is through this class, too, that a very 
powerful moral influence is to be exerted upon the rest of 
the school. The manner in which such individuals are 
managed ; the tone the teacher assumes towards them ; 
the gentleness with which he speaks of their faults ; 
and the unbending decision with which he restrains them 
from wrong, will have a most powerful efl*ect upon the rest 
of the school. That he may occupy this field, therefore, to 
the best advantage, it is necessary that he should first thor- 
oughly explore it. 

" Every boy has something or other which is good in 
his disposition and character, which he is aware of, and on 
which he prides himself; find out what it is, for it may 
often be made the foundation on which you may build 
the superstructure of reform. Every one has his peculiar 
sources of enjoyment, and objects of pursuit which are be- 



GOVERNMENT. 499 

fore his mind from day to day ; find out what they are, 
that by taking an interest in what interests him, and per- 
haps sometimes assisting him in his plans, you can bind him 
to you. Every boy is, from the circumstances in which 
he is placed at home, exposed to temptations, which have, 
perhaps, had a far greater influence in the formation of his 
character, than any deliberate and intentional depravity of 
his own. Ascertain what these temptations are, that you 
may know where to pity him and where to blame. The 
knowledge Avhich such an examination of character will 
give you will not be confined to making you acquainted with 
the individual. It will be the most valuable knowledge 
which a man can possess, both to assist him in the general 
administration of the school, and in his intercourse among 
mankind in the business of life. Men are but boys, only 
with somewhat loftier objects of pursuit. Their principles, 
motives, and ruling passions are essentially the same. Ex- 
tended commercial speculations are, so far as the human 
heart is concerned, substantially what trading in jack- 
knives and toys is at school, and building a snow fort, to its 
own architects, the same as erecting a monument of marble. 

" After exploring the ground, the first thing to be done, as 
a preparation for reforming individual character in school, 
is to secure the personal attachment of the individuals to be 
reformed. This must not be attempted by professions and 
affected smiles, and still less by that sort of obsequiousness 
common in such cases, Avhich produces no effect but to 
make the bad boy suppose that his teacher is afraid of him ; 
which, by-the-way, is, in fact, in such cases, usually true. 

" A most effectual way to secure the good will of a schol- 
ar is to ask him to assist' you. The Creator has so formed 
the human heart, that doing good must be a source of pleas- 
ure, and he who tastes this pleasure once Avill almost al- 
ways wish to taste it again. To do good to any individual 
creates or increases the desire to do it." 



500 THE SCHOOL. 

" The teacher can awaken in the hearts of his pupils a 
personal attachment for him, by asking, in various ways, 
iheir assistance in school, and then appearing honestly 
gratified with the assistance rendered. Boys and girls are 
delighted to have what powers and attainments they pos- 
sess brought out into action, especially where they can lead 
to useful results. They love to be of some consequence in 
the world, and will be especially gratified to be able to as- 
sist their teacher. Get a turbulent boy to co-operate with 
you in anything, and he will feel how much pleasanter it is 
to co-operate than to thwart and oppose ; and by judicious 
measures of this kind almost any boy may be brought over 
to your side. 

" Another means of securing the personal attachment of 
boys is to notice them ; to take an interest in their pursuits, 
and the qualities and powers which they value in one an- 
other. It is astonishing what an influence is exerted by 
such little circumstances as stopping at a play-ground a 
moment, to notice with interest, though perhaps without 
saying a word, speed of running or exactness of aim ; the 
force with which a ball is struck, or the dexterity with 
which it is caught or thrown. 

" Whenever a boy has been guilty of an offence the best 
way is to go directly and frankly to the individual, and come 
at once to a full understanding. In nine cases out of ten 
this course will be effectual. For four years, and with a 
very large school, I have foimd this sufficient, in every case 
of discipline which has occurred, except in three or four 
instances, where something more was required. To make 
it successful, however, it must be done properly. Several 
things are necessary. It must be deliberate ; generally bet- 
ter after a little delay. It must be indulgent, so far as the 
■\'iew which the teacher takes of the guilt of the pupil is 
concerned ; every palliating consideration must be felt. It 
must be firm and decided in regard to the necessity of a 



GOVERNMENT, 601 

change, and llie determination of the teacher to effect it. It 
must also be open and frank ; no insinuations, no hints, no 
surmises, but plain, honest, open dealing". 

" In many cases, the communication may be made most 
delicately, and most successfully, in writing. The more 
delicately you touch the feelings of your pupils, the more 
tender these feelings Avill become. Many a teacher hard- 
ens and stupifies the moral sense of his pupils, by the harsh 
and rough exposures to which he drags out the private feel- 
ings of the heart. A man may easily produce such a state 
of feeling in his schoolroom, that to address even the gen- 
tlest reproof to any individual, in the hearing of the next, 
would be a most severe pimishment ; and, on the other hand, 
he may so destroy that sensitiveness, that his vociferated 
reproaches will be as unheeded as the idle wind." 

The teacher should be particularly cautioned against par- 
tiality. He must be, as nearly as possible, just in his treat- 
ment of all. The older scholars must not be indulged in 
doing what Avould not be allowed to the younger, nor the 
reverse. There should be no favouritism. These things 
are not merely bad in themselves ; they destroy the whole 
moral iikfluence of the teacher. 

There are two almost opposite courses which may be 
pursued for the maintenance of the daily order of school. 
One is, to have perfect order and absolute silence, except 
at stated periods, when whispering or leaving seats is al- 
lowed ; the other is, to allow a certain liberty, to fix limits 
beyond which it is not permitted to pass, but within which 
whispering and other intercourse are, to a certain extent, al- 
lowed, and to rely upon the power of self-restraint in the 
pupils to. keep them within those limits. The former is 
easy, and an economy of time ; the latter is difficult, and 
costs time, but is more pleasant to pupils and to teacher. 
In the former case, the teacher must be always on the 
watch, and nothing must be suffered to escape his eye, and 



502 THE SCHOOL. 

no offence its penalty. This seems best for a large school, 
where numbers are to be dealt with on general principles. 
The other may be pursued in a small or select school, and 
where a high moral tone has been made to prevail. It ren- 
ders school a better preparation for the trials of life, but it 
supposes a considerable advancement already to have been 
made. 

Is corporal punishment allowable and necessary ? Some- 
times, certainly. Order must exist. Obedience must be giv- 
en. If the higher motives fail, recourse must be had to the 
lower ; and if they fail, to this, the lowest of all. But the 
child on whom it is to be inflicted must be in a wretchedly 
low state ; and the teacher who habitually has recourse 
to it, must be considered as not well understanding the 
principles or the duties of his calling. 

SECTION II. OF THE MOTIVES TO BE APPEALED TO IN GOVERNMENT. 

" Every bias, instinct, propension within, is a real part of our na- 
ture, but not the whole ; add to these the superior faculty, whose 
office it is to adjust, manage, and preside over them, and take in this 
its natural superiority, and you complete the idea of human nature. 
And as in civil government the constitution is broken in upon and 
violated by power and strength prevailing over authority, so the 
constitution of man is broken in upon and violated by the lower fac- 
ulties or principles within prevailing over that which is, in its na- 
ture, supreme over them all." — Butler. 

The remaining object of discipline is to stimulate chil- 
dren to exertion in their studies, as well as to secure their 
good behaviour. The motives which are most frequently 
addressed, both in families and schools, are, 1 . fear of pain, 
2. fear of shame, and, 3. emulation, by which I mean the spirit 
of rivalry — the desire of outstripping others.* 

The first to be considered is the fear of pain. This is 
not to be condemned altogether. The teacher ought al- 

■■'■ Most of the views contained in this section have been laid 
before the public, in the Common School Journal. 



MOTIVES. 503 

ways to have the power, in case of absolute need, of inflict- 
ing corporal punishment. But the mere possession of the 
power is all that Avould be required. A boy who knew 
that the teacher had this power, and would use it, if obliged 
to do so, would be unwilling to drive him to the necessity. 
The great objection to corporal punishment is the fact that 
it excites angry passions, not only in the child, but in the 
master, and much more in the latter than the former. I 
very distinctly remember that corporal punishment, when 
inflicted in a school where I was a pupil, rarely excited a 
permanent ill-feeling in the pupil, because it was felt to be 
just. Certain laws had this penalty annexed to their in- 
fraction ; and, as the master was really a kind and just man, 
there was no feeling of rebellion against a consequence 
which the offender brought on himself. In another instance 
which recurs to my mind, the only effect of a severe pun- 
ishment of this kind, for neglecting a lesson, was a deter- 
mination never again to deserve it. But my own experience 
teaches me that the effect is almost necessarily bad on the 
individual who inflicts the pain. It excites a horrible feel- 
ing in him, — a feeling which we might conceive to belong 
to evil spirits. But fear of pain docs not necessarily per- 
vert the character of the child. 

Not so with the fear of shame. I believe its effects to 
be altogether bad. And the essence of its badness is, that 
it can be brought to bear upon what is excellent as readily 
as upon what is evil. Indeed, Avhat is noble, and high- 
minded, and pure, can more easily be turned to ridicule 
than the contrary. Cruelty, hardness of heart, selfishness, 
the meanest of vices, can with difficulty be exposed to rid- 
icule ; while compassion, tender-heartedness, generosity, 
are particularly obnoxious to it. 

Most children are, by nature, too susceptible of ridi- 
cule; How common it is to see children ashamed of pov- 
erty, or any appearance of poverty, or of any natural defect 



504 THE SCHOOL. 

or peculiarity, and not ashamed of gluttony, or profaneness, 
or malice ! 

Children of delicate temperament, great generosity, and 
warmth of imagination, — those of the very character that 
needs not the influence of a severe punishment, would be 
made to suffer terribly from the fear of shame ; while those 
of obtuse temperament, cowardly, and mean, and wanting 
in imagination, would suffer very little. 

Besides, from whatever cause, our countrymen are most 
inordinately susceptible to the influence of ridicule already. 
Is not the great want of independence, Avhich every observ- 
er must notice, owing to this ? Are we not, in the highest 
and most absurd degree, sensitive to other people's opin- 
ions ? And, if we are so, would it not be unphilosophical 
and wanting in patriotism to increase this national infirmi- 
ty, by rendering individuals more sensitive by addressing 
the fear of shame 1 

The great objection to it, however, is what I have stated, 
that it operates with terrible inequality and injustice ; giv- 
ing great pain to the fine characters that ought to be dealt 
delicately with, aad not touching those who are, if possible, 
to be taken hold of by influences of all kinds. 

The same objection lies against emulation. It operates 
with great force upon noble natures that need no excite- 
ment, and passes over those dull ones whom it shovdd be the 
business of discipline to move. 

It must be admitted that it is a most powerful motive, 
perhaps the most powerful that can be put in action. To be 
at the head of a class can never be an object of indifference 
to a child of talent, if that is held out as the greatest good. 
Still less, to be at the head of a school. To gain a med- 
al, when only one or a very few are given, and where 
the number of competitors is great, may be made to as- 
sume, to the eye of a child, an importance greater than 
any other object for which he can live. But it sacrifices 



MOTIVES. 505 

the higher powers to the lower, — the moral to the intellectu- 
al. The object of the teacher ought not to be to make as 
good scholars as possible by any means whatsoever, but 
to elevate the being as highly as possible. If the scholar is 
made at the expense of the man, an incalculable injury is 
inflicted. The teacher capable of sacrificing the moral 
character of his pupil to his appearance at an exhibition or 
his triumph at an annual examination, is totally unworthy 
of his office. 

Emulation, when exercised among companions and equals, 
almost necessarily excites the worst passions, envy, jeal- 
ousy, hatred, malice. I say ahnost, because I believe that 
there are a few so noble in their nature, so raised above 
all selfishness, that they are able to see the prize for which 
they have been long striving, with all possible efforts, borne 
away by a rival, with no other feelings than gratification at 
his success, and resignation to their own disappointment. 
But these are very few. I might, therefore, without depart- 
ing from the truth, leave out the qualifying expression, and' 
say, that emulation, as it usually operates, excites the worst 
passions of the human heart. 

As to the effect produced on the character by emulation, 
an obvious and important question to be asked is, Avhether 
the habits formed by it are most likely to lead to the regular, 
quiet, and conscientious discharge of the daily duties of life. 
Many of those who have at school been stimulated to great 
efforts by it, lay aside their books and their habits of study 
when they leave school. If it thus fails to produce perma- 
nent effects in the things about which it has been employ- 
ed, is it lilcely to produce a healthy effect upon the whole 
character ? Would a woman, whose character had been 
formed under the influence of this motive, be more likely 
than another to endeavour to form in her children simplici- 
ty of character, humility, the charity which does good for 
the sake of its object, the love of truth for its own sake, tlie 
Uu 



506 THE SCilOOL. 

principle of doing right because it is right ? Would the de- 
sire of distinction, and of surpassing others, be most likely 
to suggest her highest duties as a wife ? Will it best fit her 
for her duties to herself and her Maker ? If they had any 
effect, would they not tend to lead her astray ? And can 
those motives which are obviously wrong for children of 
one sex, be the best possible for those of the other ? If 
these doubts are not v/hoUy unfounded, what an infinite 
amount of unnecessary evil must be created by emulation ! 
To say nothing of the envy and hatred it often engenders, 
cankering instead of purifying the heart of infancy and 
childhood, — to what cause more than this, acting so gener- 
ally in schools, and even in families, can be attributed the 
insane desire, so prevailing among us, of outstripping each 
other in wealth, in houses, in dress, in every^thing which 
admits of external comparison ? To what else, in an equal 
degree, can we attribute the notorious profligacy of so many 
political leaders ? The desire of excelling has been, from 
childhood, so fostered, that it has become an irrepressible 
passion, rushing to its end, regardless of all principle and 
of all consequences. 

It doubtless does good as well as harm. But the ques- 
tion is, whether we cannot secure the good from the action 
of higher motives, while we avoid the evil. The best men 
have been above its influence. Emulation may have form- 
ed such men as Csesar and Napoleon. How little could it 
have done to form Washington ! The noblest deeds and 
the highest works, those which have advanced society in 
civilization and truth, have been produced under the influ- 
ence of entirely different and higher motives. 

Of whom was Galileo emulous, when, having gone be- 
yond Avhat was already known, he stretched out, by the 
help of experiment and geometry, into the vast unexplored 
ocean of mechanical and astronomical truth ? Of whom 
WcS Kepler emulous, when, from the collected obserA^tions 



MOTIVES. 607 

of many years, he deduced those famous laws which he 
did not expect the minds of his own age even to compre- 
hend, but which were to serve as a foundation for the sys- 
tem of the universe ? What rivalry stimulated Newton, 
when, in the seclusion of his own study, he established 
those immortal principles of philosophy, which his friends 
could with difficulty persuade him to ^ve to the world ? 
What emulation taught Archimedes mechanics, or Pascal 
geometry, or Shakspeare poetrj^ ? What rivalry set George 
Fox or John Wesley to preach 1 or launched the Santa 
Maria or the Mayflower upon the waves of the Atlantic ? 

It must be admitted that we cannot entirely exclude the 
action of emulation. Children can hardly be assembled 
for any purpose without its showing itself. But nothing 
need be done to strengthen it. It is already a sufficiently 
powerful element in the character of every child ; and the 
excessive prominence which is given to it by its being 
constantly addressed, destroys the balance of the powers, 
and sacrifices the moral being to the intellectual. 

What other motives can be m-ade to take the place of the 
powerful ones of which I have spoken ? 

I. The love of the approbation of friends and teachers. 

The love of approbation is, in a greater or less degree, nat- 
ural to every individual, and must have been implanted for 
some good purpose. It soon shows itself in the child, and, 
for several of the earliest years, affords the parent one of 
the most powerful means of control and influence. If ap- 
pealed to constantly and simply, it may be made a genial 
and healthy element of the character. It is, however, often 
perverted by being associated with inferior motives. In 
stead of being satisfied with showing that, if their children 
do Avell, they will be rewarded with their love and appro- 
bation, parents too often bring in the meaner motives of 
appetite for delicacies, pecuniary rewards, or the desire of 
surpassing each other. A child may be made to feel that, 



508 THE SCHOOL. 

by improper conduct, he will forfeit his parents' approba- 
tion, and, if he has been properly trained, he will feel this 
to be one of the gi-eatest losses possible. 

I suppose that all parents begin, instinctively, by ap- 
pealing to this motive. The mischief is, that they too often 
degrade it by mean associations, and pervert it by giving it 
a wrong direction. ' What will people think V is the com- 
mon expression of parents without principle, and is some- 
times thoughtlessly uttered even by those who would 
shrink from believing that they were themselves acting 
from a regard to the opinion of the world, and would justly 
condemn themselves for inculcating such a principle on 
their children. The love of indiscriminate approbation, — 
that of the bad, the worthless, the frivolous, equally with 
that of the intelligent and the just, — would be as likely to 
have an ill effect on the character as a good, to form a 
mere creature of the world as to form a person of high 
views and noble principles. It is obvious, therefore, that 
the good influence of this motive depends on its associa- 
tions. It is perfectly safe only when it has reference to 
those who bestow approbation on what deserves it, and who 
are capable of judging. 

In school, the love of approbation should be directed, 
first, to the parent at home ; next, to the teacher ; lastly 
and least, to the standard of action and opinion pervading 
the little community. In order that it may be directed to 
the parent, the teacher must either have constant inter- 
course with him, or he must statedly send him some report 
of the child's progress and deportment. The latter, where 
practicable, is the better course, since, when the reports 
are made on just principles, they come to operate regular- 
ly, and form habits of action in the child of the greatest im- 
portance. 

In order that written reports should have a permanently 
good effect, they must be, as nearly as possible, just. I 



>!0T1VES. 509 

gay as nearly as possible, because I hold it to be almost 
impossible that they should be quite just. To be so, the 
dullest child in a school, who has made imiform and faith- 
ful exertions, should have an expression of entire coramen* 
dation ; and to be able to say how faithful the exertions 
have been, we must haA^e a complete knowledge of the ca* 
pacity and character of the child. Now, as this is obvi* 
ously very difficult, it is equally so to do absolute justice. 
An earnest desire, however, on the part of the teacher, to 
do exact justice, and lo rectify any instance of injustice 
which is brought to his knowledge, has almost the effect 
of justice. 

The reputation for justice and benevolence in the teach- 
er is, of course, essential to his having a good influence in 
the bestowal of his own approbation. The expressed ap- 
probation of an able teacher will have its effect, doubtlessj 
in stimulating to exertion, even when it is clearly unjust. 
But the influence of such approbation is pernicious, inas* 
much as it sacrifices the child's love of justice to his prog- 
ress in his studies ; while, on the other hand, a teacher of 
moderate intellectual ability will be able to give great force 
to his approbation, and to exert an influence on his pupils 
iiigher far than belongs to his own mere intellect, if he takes 
care always to fortify his opinions by an appeal to their 
natural sense of justice. 

This sense of justice, however, in children collected 
from families of all kinds, such as usually make up a mis- 
cellaneous school, needs continual correction. It is apt to 
be warped by too strong a feeling, in each individual, of 
his own rights, and a disregard of the rights of others. 
Occasionally you find a child who thinks that more than 
justice is done to himself. Much more frequently, each 
thinks he receives less than justice. When a teacher is 
sure he is himself just, at least in his intentions, he may 
correct the perceptions of justice in his pupils Till tMs 
U w 2 



610 THE SCHOOL. 

is done, he cannot safely appeal to tlieir judgment to award 
the meed of approbation. 

The love of approbation, then, with these limitations, 
may be appealed to as a powerful and harmless motive. 
Without these limitations it must be admitted to be unsafe, 
from the danger of its invading the province of those high- 
er principles, which it should be the business of education 
to establish as umpires over all the parts of the mental and 
moral constitution. 

II. The love of knowledge, and the pleasure of exercising 
the faculties in learning. 

Any one who had never been inside of a school, but 
had acquired a knowledge of the things in the creation 
and of the history of man by observation, and converse, 
and reading, among men and women engaged in the usual 
occupations of life, would be surprised to be told that little 
advantage is taken, in the common course of instruction, 
of this universal and most powerful principle. What 
can be more universal or more powerful than curiosity 1 — 
this instinctive love of the soul for all the beautiful crea- 
tion into the midst of which it has been born ? — this innate 
yearning of every faculty towards the objects for which it 
was created ? . Observe how, in a child, every sound awa- 
kens it. See how every colour, every motion, every new 
form charms. See with what delight the young lord of the 
world handles, lifts, pulls, breaks, weighs, and measures the 
materials of his future power, the creatures of his empire. 
Mark the rapt attention with which he listens to the story 
of every one of his fellow-creatures, of the lower or the 
higher races, — the impatience with which he waits for your 
answer to his innumerable questions about ends, and causes, 
and mechanisms, — the how, and whence, and what for ; and 
then be told that this almost irrepressible desire to learn /*• 
repressed, this powerful impulse*is neglected and forgotten, 
and the noble boy is made to learn, not because knowledge 



MOTIVES. 511 

is delightful, and bij the delight with which the heart and 
mind spring outward to it, but by being mated against his 
brother, and by his desire of outstripping him, — by blows, 
and shame, and envy ! 

And how happens this ? We mistake the means for 
the end. Instead of endeavouring to teach things of hu- 
man life, the la\ys of the creation, the character of the 
infinitely benevolent Author, we act as if we thought that 
the great ends of teaching were how to spell and read, and 
cipher and parse. We imprison a child for hours, and con- 
demn him to stillness at an age when he was never intend- 
ed to be still, and put into his hands a book of columns and 
pages of nonsense, page after page of impenetrable, inex- 
plicable nonsense, and then wonder that he is not as bright 
and gleesome as we have seen him in a garden, in the pur- 
suit of flowers and butterflies. We approach him with an 
outstretched ferule, and stern look and voice, and are vexed 
that he is not as much delighted to see us as if we came 
with smiles and kindness. We carry" on this process for 
some years, and then wonder that all his associations with 
a school are not pleasurable. The wonder should be, that 
any child should be susceptible of being moulded to our 
will to such a degree that any of these associations should 
be pleasant. 

But how shall the love of knowledge be substituted for 
the usual motives 1 How shall a child be taught spelling, 
and reading, and parsing by the desire of knowledge ? As 
to reading, it is now usually, when taught at home by kind 
and intelligent parents, taught through the love of knowledge, 
— or that and love of a parent's approbation. Put suitable, 
well-written children's books, such as they can perfectly un- 
derstand, into the hands of children, and they will soon learn 
to read, from the desire of getting at what they contain. 
And they will learn to read, not in the drawling, monotonous 
tone 90 common in schools; but in a simple and natural man 



612 THE SCHOOL. 

ner, with spirit and effect. I have now in my eye and in 
my heart two children, who, without a tear or a sigh, but 
with delight, learned, of a sensible and loving mother, how 
to read, and well too ; and beautifully and naturally they 
did read, so that it was a pleasure to hear them^ until they 
went to school. There, from books they could not under* 
stand, and befitting teachers, they soon learned to substitute 
for the natural method, in which feeling answered to feel- 
ing and thought to thought, the loud, boisterous, humdrum, 
school mode, which had nothing to do with sense or feel- 
ing. 

Regard reading as an end, and you will not succeed in 
teaching it well. Consider it only as the means by which 
the heart and head of the writer may reach the heart and 
head of the reader, and it becomes an easy and natural thing. 
We often hear surprise expressed that there are so few 
good readers, when so much time is spent on the art. The 
wonder rather is, that there should be any ; that a child 
should be carried through the long ligmarole of the spelling- 
book, such as we usually find it, and ever after be able to 
learn to read well at all. 

If the object of a teacher were to communicate as much 
knowledge as possible, he would immediately find that the 
love of knowledge might be enlisted, and that much might 
be communicated, without having recourse to other stimu- 
lants. For tliis purpose, however, he must pursue one of 
two courses. He must either select simple, well-written 
books for the pupils to read, or he must make special prep- 
aration himself, that he may supply the place of books. In 
most schools, it would be difficult to introduce a sufficient 
variety of books to communicate information upon all the 
subjects upon which instruction should be given. In none 
would it be impossible for the teacher to impart a great 
amount of valuable knowledge to pupils in almost every 
stage of advancement. The subjects which will be found 



MOTIVES. 513 

interesting lo children are such as the following : the ap- 
pearance, food, dress, manners, and customs of difi'erent na- 
tions, and whatever relates to the condition of man in all 
parts of the world ; the air and its motions, and the cause 
of wind ; Avater, what it is made of, how it is raised into the 
air, and falls, and flows into the sea, — how it freezes, and 
forms snow, and rends rocks ; rocks, their uses, the fact that 
they are made of airs and combustible substances ; heat and 
its effects ; useful plants, such as are used for food, or fuel, or 
the arts, what makes them grow, and how beautiful they 
are ; animals, their sagacity, habits, uses ; the moon, its 
changes and action on the tides ; ships, how they are made, 
how they sail, whither they go, what they carry ; short his- 
tories, anecdotes of great or good men, and others without 
number. 

Let a teacher make it a part of every day's duties to 
prepare himself to communicate some particular piece of in- 
formation, and feel a strong interest in it himself, and I doubt 
whether he will find it difiicult to excite interest in children. 
Let him, for example, tell his pupils that there is a country 
where, for some weeks in winter, the sun does not rise, and 
where the snow is often so deep that there is no travelling, 
and ask them how they think people can occupy themselves 
during these long nights ; then let him give the beautiful 
picture we have of the domestic life and habits of the Ice- 
landers, where every family is a school and a workshop, and 
the business and the instruction of life go on together. Or 
let him tell them how glass is made, or how a book is print- 
ed, and I have no fear that he will have to whip them to at- 
tention. 

He must, however, learn to talk, not Latin, not from the 
dictionary, but in simple, downright, household Saxon Eng- 
lish, such as men of sense talk on their farms and in their 
workshops, and women of sense in their kitchens or among 
their sisters. Let the end of talking be to interest and in- 
struct, not to exhibit himself. 



514 THE SCHOOL. 

And let him not be discouraged if he do not succeed 
the first or second time. It will require some practice to 
enable him to do the thing well himself, and it will require 
some patience to break up the bad habits of inattention in 
children, and accustom them to listen and look. But what 
good thing is there that we can get without any trouble ? 
And this art is well worth the pains. 

III. The love of truth. 

A love of truth must emanate from the teacher. It is in 
vain that he shall attempt to impress it upon his pupils, if 
he have it not in his own breast. And he will teach it more 
effectively, just in proportion as he has it more deeply and 
sincerely. Let him feel an entire reverence for the truth, 
and let him show this in his words and actions. 

Many practices, common in school, have a tendency to 
destroy, or at least to weaken, the love of truth. A teach- 
er should never distrust a pupil without cause. In doing 
so, he does what he can to teach him falsehood. A child 
is never so much tempted to lie as when he finds he is al- 
ready considered a liar. 

I need hardly say he should never tempt his pupils to lie. 
An obvious feeling and understanding of the command, 
Swear not at all, is, never make a promise. I believe it 
was given by him who knew what weakness is in man, to 
guard this sacred love of truth. A teacher should not re- 
quire nor allow his pupil to promise not to repeat an act. 
If he do, he tempts him to break his promise. He tempts 
him to do a thing infinitely worse than the trifling offences 
which he would guard against. He ought to be satisfied 
with pointing out the evil and exacting the penalty. But 
let him never require the promise. 

Much harm is done by attempting to induce children to 
tell of each other. Most children in school have a natural 
«ense of honour in regard to this, which, so far from being 
v'iolated, should be cherished and respected. It may be 



MOTIVES. 515 

a mistaken sense of honour, — it usually is ; but it is a noble 
feeling, and may be enlightened into a high principle. The 
detection of the author of little freaks of childish folly, or 
even of childish mischief, is, and should be considered, of 
infinitely less consequence than the preservation of this 
sense of honour. There is no great harm in the culprit's 
escaping ; there is very great in children's learning to re- 
gard each other and themselves as informers. 

If a teacher will look a little into his own motives, he 
will find that the anxious desire to bring to light and pun- 
ishment a culprit who has been guilty of some practical 
joke or violation of school-law, has more of selfishness and 
pride in it, than love of justice or of the good of the offend- 
er. Let him have magnanimity enough to look upon his 
own laws as of little consequence, in comparison Avith the 
real good of his pupils, and he will be less galled at seeing 
them broken ; and, if he persevere long enough, he will 
awaken a magnanimity in the pupil, which will be a surer 
protection of his laws than any selfish precaution. When 
the pupil sees that the master's anxiety for the execution 
of the laws comes from a consideration that they are his 
laws, he loses respect for the law and for the law-maker. 
But convince him that you have a higher regard for him 
than you have for your temporary laws, and you soon enlist 
the feelings of his better nature in favour of yourself and 
your regulations. 

In a school at least, if not in society, how much might 
be gained on the score of justice and truth by constant 
reference to that code, according to which the most effect- 
ual punishment for one frail creature to inflict upon another 
equally frail is — -forgiveness ? 

Another temptation to falsehood to be avoided, always, if 
possible, is the setting one child to be monitor or spy over 
others. I know that, in some schools and according to 
some systems, this is unavoidable. But I know, also, that 



516 THE SCHOOL. 

it is liable to produce falsehood, injustice, and ill feeling. 
A child must be more than a child, — he must have, in abun- 
dant measure, all the best qualifications of a mature teacher, 
to be able to perform justly, truly, and kindly the duties of 
a monitor. Such there sometimes are, and such may be 
employed. But none others should. 

I have adverted briefly to the common occasions of a 
departure from truth. I have done it from a conviction that 
the love and the habit of truth-telling are of infinitely more 
importance than any acquisition connected with studies 
which can ever be made in school, and for the sake of 
which the love of the truth is put at hazard. 

The desire of attaining to the truth in matters of science 
or history will be found to be a natural consequence of 
the love of moral truth, of which I have been speaking. 
This is a strong inducement to thoroughness in investiga- 
tion ; but I admit that it comes into operation later, and sup- 
poses a higher degree of advancement, than any other of 
the motives of which I have had occasion to speak. 

Its cultivation, however, is of such consequence, that it 
ought to receive far more attention than is usually given ii. 
A teacher has many opportunities of inculcating it. The 
extravagant language that young persons are very prone to 
use, though possibly proceeding only from exuberant feel- 
ings, should be guarded and repressed. Over-statements 
naturally lead to falsehood. Good taste, as well as truth, 
is concerned in the restriction ; exaggeration is a violation 
of both. 

Exactness in statements, and in the performance of all 
school exercises, is chiefly important in its moral relations, 
as leading to scrupulous adherence to truth. 

IV. The desire of advancement and progress is a natural 
and commendable motive. The only diftlcuity is, so to di- 
rect and control it, as to prevent the competition becoming 
personal. And it is so necessary an ingredient in every 



MOTIVES. 517 

inlelligenl and active character, that it is of great importance 
that a right direction should be given to it in early life. 

1 shall suggest, in a few words, some modes in which 
this may be done. 

1. The pupil may be led to desire to be more perfect 
in the study in w^hich he is engaged. This is not so dif- 
ficult as might at first be thought. Self-emulation may be 
easily excited. Show a child that what he is doing he 
may do better ; have patience with his slow improvement ; 
commend the slightest advance, and be just in marking that 
advance ; you lead him to enter into judgment with him- 
self. He compares what he is doing with what he had 
done ; he sees that he has attained something ; he becomes 
his own friend. But we must be careful to refer to the 
right standard. Let him not applaud himself for doing 
more, Unless it be also better. Better should be ever the 
word. 

2. He will need little excitement to be made to desire to 
rise to a higher class or division. Let him desire it ; and let 
him be advanced, but only with the condition that all, as he 
goes, be learned thoroughly. The stimtdus may act upon 
a whole division, consisting of many individuals. All may 
push on together, without ill-feeling, to a higher division 
This should be done as often as it can, in most schools, for 
another reason, that classes should be as few as is consist- 
ent with the progress of all. If the principle of self-judg- 
ment has been properly brought to act, some may be advan- 
ced without injury to the rights and feelings of those left 
behind. They, indeed, will prefer not to be advanced rath- 
er than to go unprepared. 

3. There is a sufficiently strong desire always exist- 
ing among children to go on to higher studies. It may be 
rendered useful by faithfully requiring thoroughness in the 
present study, as a condition of advancement to a neAv one. 
Curiosity thus stimulates love of progress. An cxamina- 
Xx 



618 THE SCHOOL. 

tion may determine tlie qualification ; or, if the same teach- 
er have charge of both classes, he may decide, without 
special examination, that a part or the whole of one class 
is qualified to go on to a higher, or to pursue another study. 

4. A school may be divided into several divisions, ac- 
cording to general progress and deportment. Let the grades 
be so numerous that the distance between contiguous divis- 
ions shall not be great. This arrangement may exist only 
on paper, in the record of the school. It need not affect 
the studies or the seats of the pupils. And it is much bet- 
ter that it should not. A child may be in the same divis- 
ion, on the book, with another, but be in a higher class in 
Arithmetic, a lower in Reading, and a different one in Geog- 
raphy. Personal competition is much weakened by these 
various arrangements according to progress, while better 
motives are brought to q.ct more powerfully. It will be a 
strong inducement to a child to have a faultless character 
for three months, if the consequence is also to have a high- 
er place on the weekly record of the school. And the 
contest is prevented from being a personal one, by the 
names in each division being arranged alphabetically. Fif- 
teen, or any other number of pupils, may thus have the sat- 
isfaction of having raised themselves, from grade to grade, to 
the first division, without having any emulation, as no one 
of the number shall know which is highest or lowest of the 
fifteen. 

5. If there be a system of several connected schools, 
examination for each higher one may be rendered a strong 
motive to study. Every one who has had any experience in 
preparing boys for college, knows how powerfully, as it 
draws near, the expectation of the examination for admission 
acts.* It seems very desirable and very practicable to in- 



* Every college examiner who lowers the standard of require- 
ment does a wrong to all the vouth who are looking in that direc- 



MOTIVES. 519 

troduce a gradation of schools into all the large towns of 
New-England and New-Yorli. A few, taught by masters 
of first-rate qualifications, might accomplish more than is 
effected by many under inferior teachers. Those of the 
second grade might be better taught than they now are, by 
females. If admission to the higher depended on a thorough 
examination, a strong and effectual motive would be brought 
to bear on a class that now stand in need of one ; — tall boys, 
Avho think themselves too old for the dominion of a woman. 

Nearly connected with this is 

V. The desire of preparing for the business and duties 
of Ufe. 

It often happens that young men who have been idle du- 
ring the course of their academical or collegiate education, 
become diligent and careful Avhen they enter upon the study 
of a particular profession. This is not the consequence of 
maturer years only, but, rather, that the business of life is 
placed distinctly before them, and the necessity of specific 
preparation for it reridered evident. The same principle 
might have been appealed to with effect in every part of 
their previous course. The child learning his letters may 
oftentimes.be urged to attention by being shown that he will 
thereby obtain the advantage of reading whatever and when- 
ever he pleases. Ho will be induced to learn to spell and 
to write, by being convinced that writing will be an advan- 
tage and a pleasure to him in his future life. The boy who 
is to look only to his own exertions for support, will be 
stimulated to diligence from the beginning of his Qtudies, 
if it can be made clear to him that success jn life will de- 
pend on his excellence as a scholar. The generous boy 
of twelve, who is made to foresee that the support of a 

tion. If all the colleges of the Northern and Middle States could 
be induced to unite, they could easily and rapidly raise all the pre- 
paratory schools to a far higher grade, by agreeing to insist on high- 
er qualificatirns. 



520 TWE SCHOOL. 

mother or a sister will depend on him, and that all he can 
have to rely on is his talents and his education, will press 
on with the resolution to get the best education and make 
the most of his talents. The future merchant will apply 
patiently to Arithmetic, Letter-writing, and Book-keeping, 
when he is convinced that these are necessary to his prep- 
aration for his futurie calling. Chemistry and -Vegetable 
Physiology will recommend themselves to the future farm- 
er on the same grounds ; Geometry and Physics to the 
mechanic ; and Physiology and the laws of the constitution 
to her who realizes that an important part of the duty of 
woman is to nurse the sick and to bring up children in 
health. 

Such views should never be omitted in recommending a 
study to our pupils ; and if there be a study in regard to 
which such statements cannot be made, we may reasonably 
hesitate whether we have a right to recommend it to them. 
We must take care, however, that the view we take of suc- 
cess in life be not the mean and ordinary one which meas- 
ures everything by its pecuniary value, but the loftier one, 
based upon more just ideas of the worth of our existence, 
and the elevation, excellence, and happiness which should 
be its aim. 

A lad of some talent, who had failed to be influenced by 
the rod, by medals, by the desire of pleasing his friends, or 
fear or love of his instructer, was awakened as ft-om a sleep 
by a striking picture of the miserable condition of an old 
age spent without any of the resources which love of books 
can give. What was immediately before him did not touch 
him ; but his imagination passed over youth and manhood, 
of which he felt secure, and dwelt upon old age ; and the 
desire of being, at that period of his life, surrounded by 
friends and books, set him seriously at work. 
VI. The generous affections. 
Every school might be, in a much greater degree than is 



MOTIVES. 521 

olten thought possible, governed and controlled by an ap- 
peal to the highest and most generous affections that belong 
to the human character. I admit that it would be often dif- 
ficult, and, to some of us, impossible ; but the fault would 
be with ourselves. It would be because we have not, in a 
eufhciently ample measure, the qualities that we would call 
up in our pupils ; for, to avail himself of these principles, 
the teacher must have them in his own character. How 
can he touch the spring of generous feeling in his pupils 
who, in his intercourse with them, is habitually influenced 
by low and selfish motives 1 

1. He should have a strong sympathy with childhood, 
and he should not be ashamed to feel and express it. The 
affections, as truly as genius, are always young. They 
never grow old. And if they did, life is so short, that the 
oldest of us have to look back but a very few years to enter 
again into the feelings of childhood. Without sympathy, 
the teacher cannot understand, much less direct, the feel- 
ings of the child. But a ready sympathy will enable him 
to understand the difficulties that a child meets with, — how 
obscure the plainest thing may appear to hiin ; how long 
the shortest ; and how soon his scanty stock of patience is 
exhausted. It is partly from their quicker sympathy that 
females are so much better qualified to teach young children 
than we are ; partly, also, from the silly pride that is apt to 
prevail among men, particularly those of obtuse perceptions, 
and the savage idea that want of sympathy is not a want, 
that hardness is rrianliness ; forgetting that the men of the 
best endowments have been always marked by the most 
extensive sympathies. 

The most generous allowance should be made for the 
faults of children ; the most lenient construction should be 
put upon every offence. We may easily remember, if we 
will, that our OAvn faults, when children, were far more fre- 
quently those of ignorajice, of thoughtlessness, of impulse, 
X x2 



522 TEIE SCHOOL. 

or of weakness, than of design or of malice. Such are 
always the sources of most of their faults ; and it is un- 
reasonable to expect to find children without faults. -It is 
unreasonable, too, when these causes are so obvious, to look 
deeper and search for anything worse. Impute to children 
the best motives, and you create them, or, rather, you bring 
into action those principles Avhich produce the best motives. 
We cannot doubt that the capacity for all that is good and 
noble exists in every child, and only needs to be roused 
and brought out by the teacher. His power of doing this 
will be in proportion to the elevation of his own character. 
2. A teacher must show entire confidence in the child ; 
and not only show, but feel it. Confidence begets confi- 
dence, as distrust begets distrust and falsehood. There is 
no other so ready way to produce falsehood in a child as to 
doubt his word. And it must be so. A doubter is a liar. 
One who was himself perfectly true could never suspect. 
It is true that there is a distrust produced by the experience 
of other men's falsehoods. But this belongs to the world. 
It cannot be felt by a teacher towards a child. Real truth, 
like charity, thinketh no evil. Distrust, therefore, to the 
whole extent of the influence a teacher has, corrupts the 
principle of truth, and generates falsehood. It is as- if he 
said to the child, ' I distrust you, because I believe that you 
are like myself.' But a child who feels that his teacher 
confides in him has all the strength of the teacher's charac- 
ter on the side of his own good promptings and resolutions. 
He can, perhaps, resist the temptation from within, if all 
from without is removed. The teacher's smile gives him 
confidence in himself. He is safe, because he is in good 
company. But let the teacher meet him with the dark leer 
of suspicion, and the trembling flame of truth within him 
goes out. ' What am I to lose,' thinks the child, ' by this 
falsehood ? He already looks upon me as a liar ; and by a 
lie I may save myself from the consequences of this of- 



MOTIVES. 523 

fence.' For thus is falsehood always cowardly and full 
of fear. Let us remove the fear, if we would prevent 
the lie. 

3. The teacher should take care to make it felt that he 
is on the side of his pupils. This is often difficult. In 
some schools the master has always been looked upon as 
an enemy, and the impression comes down by inheritance 
to all the children. The same, too, is the impression of 
parents, which makes the case still harder. But the diffi- 
culty will cease in the case of one who has a genuine sym- 
pathy for his pupils. They are quick to find out their 
friends ; and if he is a true friend — a prudent, wise, and 
confiding friend, they cannot miss of sooner or later finding 
it out. 

The common truth, — almost too common even for a 
proverb, — that we learn more from imitation than precept, 
is in everybody's mouth, and yet how much disregarded in 
practice. What higher object can be proposed than to 
teach the moral virtues, justice, liberality, charity, gentle- 
ness, generosity, humility ? But how can he properly teach 
justice who is habitually unfair ? or liberality, who is mean- 
spirited ? or charity, who is close and suspicious ? or gen- 
tleness, who is rough and overbearing ? or generosity, who 
is overreaching and selfish 1 or humility, who is proud, and 
querulous, and self-sufficient ? 

VII. Conscientiousness, and the desire of obeying the 
laws of God. 

The highest object of education, I repeat, is to establish 
the dominion of these principles, and to form the habit of 
acting under their influence. This is to be accomplished 
by exercising them, or, so far as it depends on the teacher, 
by constantly appealing to them, so as to call them into ac- 
tion. 

The conscience, beginning to act in very early childhood, 
is, in many individuals, more active then tlian at any future 



524 THE SCHOOL. 

period. The common course of education, both in school 
and out of school, is wrong in nothing else so much as in 
failing to give greater activity to the conscience. The child 
who is once habituated, as under a conscientious mother he 
may be, to ask the question " Is it right ?" in regard to ev- 
ery proposed action, might easily be led to continue to do 
this, and would then grow up, seeking always, and first of 
all, to do his duty. But how often are his scruples laughed 
at. How constantly does he see those about him acting 
from appetite, from malice, from passion, from self-interest, 
from desire of the approval of the world, from the wish to 
outstrip others, and from the other ordinary low motives. 
How constantly are these presented to himself. No won- 
der that the still, small voice of conscience is never heard, 
or, if heard, that it is stifled by the confused sounds about 
him. It should be our endeavour to change this state of 
things, to take the side of conscience, to point out what is 
Avrong and what is right, and to suggest constantly the ques- 
tion, Is it right ? — not always in so many words, but in such 
a manner that it shall really be asked within. With pupils 
of all ages, I have from no other source seen such satisfac- 
tory eftects produced, as from the action of this principle 
and affection alone. I have never known a young person, 
insensible to the simple statement, " You can do better than 
this, and you ought ;" nor any form of reward which produ- 
ced its effect more clearly and certainly than being able to 
say, " You have done well" — " that is right" — " that is very 
well !" 

But the conscience is to be enlightened. This is to be 
done by teaching the child his relation to God, as his Au- 
thor and the Creator of his conscience, as of everything 
else, thus showing the authority of the laws of God, and then 
showing what the laws of God are. The laws of the spir- 
itual and moral nature are to be learned from the Bible, — 
most distinctly and fully from the instnictions of Jesus 



MOTIVES. 525 

Christ. For this purpose, a porti)n of the Gospels, or a 
selection from other parts, should, as I have repeatedly said, 
be read each day, and such assistance given, in pointing out 
and explaining the laws, as the teacher maybe able to give. 
The two highest principles, — the sentiment of duty and rev- 
erence for God and his laws, — are thus made to act to- 
gether. 

The sphere of conscientiousness is enlarged by enlarging 
our views of the Creator's laws. When the body is admit- 
ted to be his workmanship, the laws of the structure of the 
body are his laws, and whatever is necessary to secure 
health becomes a part of duty. The parable of the talents, 
explained to signify all the talents, the powers of mind and 
of body, as well as the moral and religious faculties, will 
show that every part of our nature is to be conscientiously 
cultivated, improved, and perfected, according to the obvious 
purpose of its Creator. 

I have placed this class of motives last, because it is 
the highest. It would, perhaps, be more proper to place it 
first, as it comprehends all others ; and if we could teach 
and govern perfectly, it would take the place of all others. 
As we advance in knowledge of our duties and in skill, wo 
shall approach more and more nearly to this end. 



526 THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 



BOOK V. 

THE SCHOOLHOUSE 



CHAPTER I. 



SITUATION. 



" The outside of the building is as agreeable as the inside is coiv- 
venient ; it is situated on the prettiest side of the town, and has na 
communication with any other building. It has a magnificent view 
over a delightful country, a large kitchen-garden, a commodious 
court, and two flower-gardens." — Cousin, The School at Bruhl. 

So mucli do the future health, vigour, taste, and moral 
principles of the pupil depend upon the position, arrange- 
ment, and construction of the schoolhouse, that everything 
about it is important. When the most desirable situation 
can be selected, and the laws of health and the dictates of 
taste may be consulted, it should be placed on firm ground, 
on the southern declivity of a gently-sloping hill, open to 
the southwest, from which quarter come the pleasantest 
winds in summer, and protected on the northeast by the top 
of the hill or by a thick wood. From the road it should be 
remote enough to escape the noise, and dust, and danger, 
and yet near enough to be easily accessible by a path or 
walk, always dry. About it should be ample space, a part 
open for a play-ground, a part to be laid out in plots for 
flowers and shrubs, with winding alleys for walks. Damp 
places, in the Adcinity of stagnant pools or untvholesome 
marshes, and bleak hilltops or dusty plains, should be care-, 
fully avoided. Tall trees should partially shade the grounds, 
not in stiff" rows or heavy clumps, but scattered irregularly 
as if by the hand of Nature. Our native forests present 
such a choice of beautiful trees, that the grounds must be 
very extensive to afford room for even a single fine speci-- 



SITUATION. 527 

men of each ; yet this should, if possible, be done, for chil- 
dren ought early to become familiar with the names, ap- 
pearance, and properties of these noblest of inanimate 
things. The border of a natural wood may often be chosen 
for the site of a school ; but if it is to be thinned out, or if 
trees are to be planted, and, from limited space, a selection 
is to be made, the kingly, magnificent oaks, the stately 
hickories, the spreading beech for its deep mass of shade, 
the maples for their rich and abundant foliage, the majestic 
elm, the useful ash, the soft and graceful birches, and the 
towering, columnar sycamore, claim precedence.* Next 
may come the picturesque locusts, with their hanging, fra- 
grant flowers ; the tulip-tree ; the hemlock, best of ever- 
greens ; the celtis, or sweet gum ; the nyssa, or tupelo, with 
horizontal branches and polished leaves ; the walnut and 
butternut, the native jwplar, and the aspen. 

Of extremely beautiful American shrubs, the number is 
so great that I have no room for a list. What place in- 
tended to form the taste of the young, should be without 
the kalmias, rhododendrons, cornels, roses, viburnums, mag- 
nolias, clethras, honeysuckles, and spiraeas ? And whoever 
goes into the woods to gather these, will find a multitude 
of others which he will hardly consent to leave behind. 
The hilltop should be planted with evergreens, forming at 
all seasons a barrier against the winds from the north and 
east. 

Of the flower-plots little need be said. They must be 
left to the taste of the teacher and of cultivated persons in 
the district. I can only recommend our wild American 
plants, and again remind the reader that there is hardly a 
country town in New-Y^rk or Now-England from whose 
woods and meadows a hundred Icinds of flowers might not 

* There are at least ten oaks, four hickories, three or four maples, 
and as many birches, native to our woods, and all deserving the 
character given above. 



528 THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 

be transplanted, of beauty enough to form the chief orna- 
ment of a German or English garden, which are now neg- 
lected only because they are common and wild. Garden 
flowers need not be excluded ; and if either these or the for- 
mer are cultivated, the great object, to present something 
to refine and inform the taste, will be in some degree ac- 
complished. 

Where land is not excessively dear, not less than one 
fourth of an acre should be assigned for the school lot ; so 
much being essential for the necessary play-grounds. If 
proper enclosed play-grounds are provided, the master may 
often be present at the sports, and thus become acquainted 
with the character of his pupils. If children are compelled 
to resort to the highway for their amusements, we ought not 
to wonder that they should be contaminated by the vices, 
brawlings, and profanity which belong to the frequenters 
of highways. If the additional purpose of improving the 
taste and giving information as to trees, shrubs, and flowers, 
and their management, be in view, an acre at least should 
be appropriated. 

If the situation of the house is important, its structure 
and internal arrangement, its size, and the way in which it 
is warmed, lighted, and ventilated, are still more so. I 
shall state, as concisely as I can, the principles by which 
these particulars should be regulated. 



CHAPTER II. 



The room should be sufliciently large to allow every pu- 
pil, 1. to sit comfortably at his desk; 2. to leave it without 
disturbing any one else ; 3. to see explanations on his les- 
sons, and to recite, without being incommoded or incommo- 
ding others ; 4- tx> breathe a wholesome atmosphere. 



SIZE. 529 

1. Each desk should be large enough to contain the books, 
maps, and slate of its occupant, and to allow them to be 
spread open before him ; and each seat should be sufficient 
to give an easy position and freedom of motion. For these 
purposes, the desk should be from 21 to 24 inches long, and 
from 13 to 17 wide ; and the seat from 10 to 12^ inches in 
each dimension, varying according to the size of the chil- 
dren. 

2. Each seat should be accessible, at least on one side, 
by a passage of sufficient width to allow the pupil or the 
master to pass without touching those on either side ; and 
there should be a space on one side, which, together with 
the passage, should be sufficient to allow the whole school 
to be standing at once. 

3. There should be sufficient unoccupied space, in front 
or in the rear of the desks, to allow more than one class to 
be conveniently arranged while reciting, and to accommo- 
date the blackboards and other apparatus necessary for the 
teacher ; and in a large school, this space should be both 
in front and in rear, so that two or more classes may be re- 
citing at one time without disturbing eaph other. Wherev- 
er arrangements can be made for them, there should be sep- 
arate reciting rooms. 

4. The room must be ventilated ; but as this may not al- 
ways be done, during the first hours of the morning, in cold 
weather, inasmuch as it must necessarily be done at the 
expense of some portion of heat, the room should be capa- 
cious enough to prevent the air becoming offensive and poi- 
sonous in the course of a single session. For this purpose, 
at least 150 cubic feet of air should be allowed for every 
occupant. 

The atmosphere, it is well known, consists essentially of 
oxygen and nitrogen, in the proportion of about 1 part of 
the former to 4 of the latter. Of these two elements, oxy- 
gen alone is capable of sustaining life, the nitrogen serving 
Y Y 



530 THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 

merely is a medium in which the oxygen is diffused, but 
having in itself no vital property. By the process of breath- 
ing, the oxygen is rapidly consumed, and, in its place, car- 
bonic acid gas, an air which is poisonous, is thrown into the 
atmosphere. Besides this cause, which is continually op- 
erating to render the air unfit for respiration, the whole mass 
of the air around us is gradually rendered impure by the va- 
pour which is breathed from the lungs, and by the matter 
which is constantly passing from the surface of the body in 
insensible perspiration. The amount of corruption produ- 
ced by these sources is astonishing. From 1400 to 2000 cu- 
bic inches of oxygen are every* hour withdrawn from the air 
by each pair of lungs. In the same space of time, from one 
to two oimces of foul matter, which has performed its ofRce 
in the body and become effete and offensive, is thrown into 
the air by insensible perspiration from the surface of the body 
of each individual, besides a portion, amoimting to one third 
as much, in the vapour from the lungs.* 

The Creator has poured round the earth an ocean of air 
40 or 50 miles in height, thus showing the importance of 
this element in the economy of nature. When the vital im- 
portance to the health of the body is considered of a full 
supply of perfectly fresh air, and the extent to which it is 
corrupted by the various sources mentioned above, we cease 
to be surprised at the loathsomeness of the foul, poisonous 
air with which a close, full room reeks, or at the headaches, 
languor, dullness, and ill-temper which are its immediate ef- 
fects, or at the habitual feeling of weariness and the sure 

* Suppose a schoolroom to be 30 feet square and 9 feet high ; it 
will contain 13,996,000 cubic inches of atmospheric air. According 
to Davy and Thompson, two accurate and scientific chemists, one 
individual respires and contaminates 6500 cubic inches of air in a 
minute. Fifty scholars will respire (and contaminate) 325,000 cu- 
bic inches in the same time. In about 40 minutes all the air in such 
a room will have become contaminated, if fresh supplies are not pro- 
vided. — Br. S. B. Woodward's Letter to H. Mann. 



POSITION AND ARRANGEMENT. 531 

exhaustion of the system which it so often entails upon him 
who is condemned to breathe it constantly for years in suc- 
cession. 

If the first three objects above mentioned are fully provi- 
ded for, the space on the floor will be sufficient. But to se- 
cure the advantage of an adequate supply of air, the room 
must be not less than 10, and, if possible, 12 or 14 feet 
high. 



CHAPTER III. 

POSITION AND ARRANGEMENT.* 

It is very desirable that the north end of the schoolhouse 
be occupied by the master's desk ; that this end be a dead 
Wall ; that the front be towards the south ; and that the 

■" Arrangement. — For the accommodation of 56 scholars, so as to 
give ample room for moving, for recitations, and for air, the dimen- 
sions of the house should be 38 feet by 25, and 10 feet in height 
within. This will allow an entry of 14 feet by 7i, lighted by a win- 
dow, furnished with wooden pegs for the accommodation of 
clothes ; a wood-room, 10 feet by H, to serve also as an entry for 
girls at recess, or as a recitation-room ; a space behind the desks, 
8 feet wide, for fireplace, passage, and recitations, with permanent 
seats against the walls 10 or 11 inches wide; a platform, 7 feet 
wide, for the teacher, with the library, blackboards, globes, and otiier 
apparatus for teaching : the remaining space to be occupied by the 
desks and seats of the scholars. For every additional 8 scholars 
the room may be lengthened 2^ feet. The desks and seats for 
scholars should be of ditferent dimensions. A desk for two may be 
3^ or 4 feet long. If the younger children are placed nearest the 
master's desk, the desks in the front range may be 13 inches wide, 
the two next 14, the two next 15, and the two most remote 16, with 
the height, respectively, of 24, 25, 26, and 27 inches. The seats 
should vary in like manner. Those in the front range should be 10 
inches wide, in the two next 10^, in the two next 11, in the two 
last IH or 12 ; and 13^, 14, 15, and 16 inches, respectively, high. All 
edges and corners are to be carefully rounded. 



532 THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 

desks be so placed that the pupils, as they sit at them, shall 
look towards the north. The advantages of this arrange- 
ment are, 1. That the scholars will obtain more correct 
ideas upon the elements of geography, as all maps suppose 
the reader to be looking northward ; 2. The north wall, 
having no windows, will exclude the severest cold of win- 
ter ; 3. The scholars will, in this case, look towards a dead 
wall, and thus avoid the great evil of facing a glare of light ; 
or, if a window or two be allowed in the north wall, the 
light coming from that quarter is less vivid, and, therefore, 
less dangerous than that which comes from any other ; 4. 
The door, being on the south, will open towards the winds 
which prevail in summer and from the cold winds of winter. 

If, from necessity, the house must front northward, the 
master's desk should be still in the north end of the room, 
and the scholars, when seated, look in that direction. 

The arrangement of the desks has often been made with 
special reference to the quiet of the school. There are 
other, higher objects, which should be also provided for. 
The first is the social nature of the child. Two seats 
should be contiguous, that friends may sit together, that a 
delicate child, when it first comes to school, may not be 
placed by itself or among strangers, but next to one that it 
already knows and loves ; that one may help another, and 
that the most advanced may take care, each of one of the 
least advanced. Such arrangements have been sometimes 
thought unfavourable to the utmost amount of study. I 
have not found them so ; and, even if they were, we are to 
remember that moral culture is of higher importance than 
mental. 

The end of the room occupied by the master should be 
fitted with shelves for a library and for philosophical appa- 
ratus and collections of natural curiosities, such as rocks, 
minerals, plants, and shells, for globes and for blackboards. 
The books, apparatus, and collections should be concealed 



POSITION AND ARRANGEMENT. 533 

and protected by doors, which may be made perfectly plain 
and without panels, so as to be painted black and serve as 
blackboards. They may be conveniently divided by pilas- 
ters into three portions, the middle one for books, the others 
for apparatus and collections. On one of the pilasters may 
be the clock ; on the other a barometer and thermometer ; 
on shelves in the corners, the globes ; and over the library, 
in the centre, the study card. One of the pilasters may 
form part of the ventilating tube. The master's platform 
may be raised eight inches. For all these purposes, the 
space in front of the ranges of scholars' desks should be not 
less than seven or eight feet wide ; ten or twelve would be 
much better. The sides and front of this space should be 
furnished with seats, ten or eleven inches wide, for recita- 
tion. By means of a large movable blackboard, this space 
may be, in case of need, converted into two, so that two 
classes may recite at a time. In a school intended to ac- 
commodate more than 64 pupils, there ought also to be a 
space for recitation in the south end of the room, separable 
by movable blackboards into two. 

The entry should be lighted by a window, and be fur- 
nished with wooden or iron pms for the accommodation of 
hats, bonnets, and cloaks ; and there should be a wood- 
closet large enough to contain two or three cords of wood. 
This roommay, in case of need, be used as a recitation-room. 

By making the ceiling of the entry and wood-closet only 
seven feet high, two commodious rooms for recitation may 
be formed above them, lighted from the window over the 
front door, and accessible by stairs from within the school- 
room. 

Yy2 



534 THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

LIGHT WARMING VENTILATION. 

1. Light. — The windows should be on. the east and 
west sides of the room, on the right and left of the pupils 
and teacher. Windows on the north admit too much cold 
in winter ; on the south, too intense a light at the hour when 
it is greatest. The eye is often materially and permanent- 
ly injured by being directly exposed to strong light ; and if 
the light come from behind, the head and body interposed 
throw the book into their shadow. If windows open to- 
wards a road or any other object attractive to children, 
they should be so high that the pupil, sitting at his desk, 
cannot look out upon it. Windows set high give a more 
uninterrupted light, and are less liable to be broken than 
low ones, and are, therefore, on the whole, preferable. But 
if the house be situated at a distance from objects likely to 
draw the children's attention, the windows may be at the 
usual cheerful height. In any case, they should be furnish- 
ed with blinds or green curtains. They should be made to 
open from the top as well as the bottom, so that, in the sum- 
mer season, when the ventilator will not act, they may sup- 
ply its place. 

2. Warming. — The usual mode of heating a room by 
means of an iron stove has no recommendation but its cheap- 
ness. It burns the air, and renders it disagreeable and un- 
wholesome. The best mode with reference to health is by 
a common open fireplace. By a little pains in the construc- 
tion, the advantages of the latter may be combined with the 
economy of the former, and the room be at the same time 
furnished with an ample supply of fresh, warm air from 
abroad. In a suitable position, pointed out in the plates, 
near the door, let a common brick fireplace be built. Let 



LIGHT — WARMING VENTILATION. 535 

this be enclosed, on the back and on each side, by a casing 
of brick, leaving, between the fireplace and the casing, a 
spa£e of four or five inches, which will be heated through the 
back and jambs. Into this space let air be admitted from 
beneath by a box 24< inches wide and 6 or 8 deep, leading 
from the external atmosphere by an opening beneath the 
front door, or at some other convenient place. The brick 
casing should be continued up as high as six or eight inch- 
es above the top of the fireplace, where it may open into the 
room by lateral orifices, to be commanded by iron doors, 
through which the heated air will enter the room. If these 
are lower, part of the warm air will find its way into the fire 
place. The brick chimney should rise at least two or three 
feet above the hollow back, and may be surmounted by a flat 
iron, soap-stone, or brick top, with an opening for a smoke- 
pipe, which may be thence conducted to any part of the 
room. The smoke-pipe should rise a foot, then pass to one 
side, and then, over a passage, to the opposite extremity of 
the room, where it should ascend perpendicularly and is- 
sue above the roof. The fireplace should be provided with 
iron doors, by which it may be completely closed. 

The advantages of this double fireplace are, 1. The fire, 
being made against brick, imparts to the air of the apart- 
ment none of the deleterious qualities which are produced by 
a common iron stove, but gives the pleasant heat of an open 
fireplace ;* 2. None of the heat of the fuel will be lost, as 
the smoke-pipe maybe extended far enough to communicate 
nearly all the heat contained in the smoke ; 3. The current 
of air heated within the hollow back, and constantly pouring 

* The poisonous effects of hot iron on air are not generally un- 
derstood. There are always floating in the atmosphere minute par- 
ticles, which are chiefly carbon. These, coming in contact with a 
hot iron surface, are partially converted into the poisonous carbonic 
acid gas. There seem to be some other deadening effects produ 
ced on the air not so easily explained. 



536 THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 

into the room, will diffuse an equable heat throughout every 
part ; 4. The pressure of the air of the room will be con- 
stantly outward, little cold will enter by cracks and win- 
dows, and the fireplace will have no tendency to smoke ; 
5. By means of the iron doors, the fire may be completely 
controlled, — increased or diminished at pleasure, with the 
advantages of an air-tight stove. For that purpose, there 
must be a valve or slide near the bottom of one of the doors. 

If, instead of this fireplace, a common stove be adopted, 
it should be placed above the air-passage, which may be 
commanded by a valve or register in the floor, so as to 
admit or exclude air. Of the stoves in use, the best seems 
to be that called the " air-tight." A winter's trial of one 
of them in a teacher's room shows it to be far inferior to 
the double fireplace above recommended, and not essential- 
ly different in the consumption of fuel. 

3. Ventilation. — A room warmed by such a fireplace 
as that just described, may be easily ventilated. If a cur- 
rent of air is constantly pouring in, a current of the same 
size will rush out wherever it can find an outlet, and with 
it will carry the impurities wherewith the air of an occupied 
room is always charged. For the first part of the morning 
the open fireplace may suffice. But this, though a very ef- 
fectual, is not an economical ventilator ; and when the is- 
sue through this is closed, some other must be provided. 
The most effective ventilator for throwing out foul air, is one 
opening into a tube which encloses the smoke-flue at the 
point where it passes through the roof. Warm air natural- 
ly rises. If a portion of the smoke-flue be enclosed by a 
tin tube, it v/ill warm the air within this tube, and give it a 
tendency to rise. If, then, a wooden tube, opening near 
the floor, be made to communicate, by its upper extremity, 
with the tin tube, an upward current will take place in it 
which will always act whenever the smoke-Jlue is loarm* 

* There is a difficulty in ventilation as it is often managed 



LIGHT — WARMING— VENTILATION. 537 

It is better, but not absolutely essential, that the opening 
into the wooden tube be near the floor. The carbonic acid 
thrown out by the lungs rises, with the warm breath, and 
the perspirable matter from the skin, with the warm, invisi- 
ble vapour, to the top of the room. There both soon cool, 
and sink towards the floor ; and both carbonic air and the 
vapour bearing the perspirable matter are pretty rapidly and 
equally diffused through every pari of the room.* It mat- 
ters not, therefore, from what part of the room the outlet is 
made, as from every part, probably, an equal amount of foul 
matter will be thrown out. If it be from a point near the 
floor, it will be accompanied with less heat, and it will, at 
the same time, increase the tendency of the warm air above 
to difliise itself through the space below. 

The best possible ventilator is an open fireplace. Many 
schoolrooms were originally constructed with a fireplace, 
which, from the superior economy of a stove, has been 
closed up, and the smoke-pipe has been made to enter into 
the upper part of the chimney. Where this is the case, a 
most efiicient ventilator may be secured by partially open- 
ing the fireplace near the hearth, and commanding the ori- 
fice by a slide of wood or metal. The opening of the ven- 

"WTiere no warm air is admitted, an opening made for the purpose 
of letting out foul air is just as likely to let air in ; or, if the open- 
ing is a single one, two currents will be established in it, one out- 
ward, the other inward, and neither of them active. A ventilator 
opening into an attic is often quite inelFicient. 

* This diffusion, from the mutual penetration of gases, is often 
lost sight of Turner says, " One gas acts as a vacuum with re- 
spect to another ; and, therefore, if a vessel full of carbonic acid gas 
be made to communicate with another of hydrogen, the particles of 
each gas insinuate themselves between the particles of the other, 
till they are equally diffused through both vessels The ulti- 
mate effect ... is the same as if the vessel of hydrogen had been 
a vacuum." — Sec Turner's Chemistry, Alh Am. Edition, p. 162. See, 
also, Manchester's Memoirs, vol. v., for Dalton's original investigations 
on this subject. 



538 THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 

tilator should in any case be not less than 12 inches square, 
and, in the case in question, it should be near the master's 
seat, not far from the floor, two feet long and eight inches 
high, and open into a box in the wall of these dimensions, 
or at least 24 inches by six, extending to the ceiling, 
where it should communicate with the tin box enclosing 
the smoke-pipe. If the building have two stories, the ven- 
tilator tubes must be cnrricd from the lower, upward, with- 
in the wall, and commu;;!cate in the upper ceiling with the 
tin box. The supply of fresh air for the upper room should 
then be brought in from the side of the house between two 
joists in the floor, and open beneath the stove or behind the 
fireplace. 

This mode of ventilation will be found much more eco- 
nomical, as well as more certain, than a usual mode of ma- 
king openings into an attic which has windows into the 
atmosphere. In the latter, you have a flight of stairs to 
the attic, an attic floor and two windows ; in the other, a 
wooden tube 12 feet long, and a tin one four or five feet 
long: the attic being left unfinished, or, what would be 
better, having the ceiling of the schoolroom arched, to em- 
brace a part of the space of the attic. 

The details of construction will be given in the explana- 
tion of the plates 



SCHOOL FOK FORTY-EIGHT PUPILS. 




24 feet by 28 feet outside.] 



D. Entrance door. 

E. Entry. 

F. Fireplace. 

C. Wood closet, or recitation room. 

T. Teacher's platform. 

a. Apparatus shelves. 

1. Air tube beneath the floor. 

d. Doors. 

S Globes. 



[Scale 8 feet to the inch. 



I. Library shelves. 

7n. Master's table and seat 

p. Passages. 

r. Recitation seats. ^ 

s. Scholars' desks and seats. 

V. Ventilator. 

to. Windows. 

b. Movable blackboard. 

a s. Air space behind the fireplace 



SCHOOL FOB ONK liUM>i:l':i> AND TWKNTY PUP: 




— i ^r^ 4=t . 




(.Scale 8 feet to the inch. 



51 feet by 31 feet outside.] 

D. Entrance door. E. Entry. F. Fireplar-e. C. Wood closet. T. Teacher's platform, a. Appara- 
tus shelves. ^ Air tube beneath the floor, d. Doors, g-. Globes. /. Library shelves, wi. Master s t.ir 
ble and seat. p. Passaees. r. Recitation seat.>. s. Scholars' desks and seats, r s. Stairs to recit.itiou 
rooms in the attic, t;. Ventilator. ti>. Wifidows. fc. Movable blijckboard, a «. Air space behind tha 
(irepl.ice. 




A. Horizontal section. 
E. Perpendicular section. 

c. Brick walls, 4 inches thick. 

d. Air space betweJ^i the walls. 

e. Solid froitts of masonry. 

/. Air box for supply of fresh air, e.xtena- 
ing- beneath the floor to the front door. 



[Scale 4 feet to the inch. 

g. Opening-s on the sides of the fireplace 
for the heated air to pass into the room. 
h. Front of the fti-eplace and mantelpiece. 
i. Iron smoke flue, 8 inches diameter. 
j. Space between the fireplace and wall. 
k. Partition wall. 
I. Floor. 



Z z 



I'ENTILATINO APPARATUS 




[Scale 4 feet to the inc 

A.. Air box, 1 foot square, or 24 inches by 6, covered by the pilaster, and opening at the floor, in t 
base of the pilaster. 

B. Round iron tube, 15A inches in diameter, being- a continuation of the air box, through the cent 
of which passes, 

C. The smoke flue, 8 inches diameter 
D Caps to keep out the rain 






BLACKBOAKD. 




APPENDIX. 



DESCRIPTION OF AN OCTAGONAL SCHOOLHOUSE, 

FURNISHED FOR THIS WORK BY MESSRS. TOWN AND DAVIS, ARCHITECTS, 

NEW-YORK. 

This design for a schoolhouse intends to exhibit a model of fitness 
and close economy. It differs from a design published by the Com- 
mon School Society of New-York, in being made more simple, with- 
out the belfry, and complete in the octagon form. It is also similar 
to a design published by the Connecticut Board of Commissioners of 
Common Schools. The principles of fitness are the same in both, 
viz. : 1. Ample dimensions, with very nearly Ihc least possible length 
of wall for its enclosure, the roof being constructed without tie 
beams, the upper and lower ends of the rafters being held by tlic 
wall plates and frame at the foot of the lantern. The ceiling may 
show the timber-work of tlie roof, or it may be plastered. 2. Light, 
a uniform temperature, and a free ventilation, secured by a lantern 
light, thus avoiding lateral windows (except for air in summer), and 
gaining wall-room for blackboards, maps, models, and illustrations. 
Side windows are shown in the view, and may be made an addition 
by those who doubt the efficiency of the lantern light. (The lantern 
is not only best for light, but it is essential for a free ventilation.) 
With such a light, admitted equally to all the desks, there will be no 
inconvenience from shadows. The attention of the scholars will 
not be distracted by occurrences or objects out of doors. There will 
be less expense for broken glass, as the sashes will be removed from 
ordinary accidents. The room, according to this plan, is heated by 
a fire in the centre, either in a stove or grate, with a pipe going di- 
rectly through the roof of the lantern, and finishing outside in a sheet- 
iron vase or other appropriate cap. The pipe can be tastefully fash- 
ioned, with a hot-air chamber near the floor, so as to afford a large 
radiating surface before the heat is allowed to escape. This will 
secure a uniform temperature in every part of the room, at the same 
time that the inconvenience from a pipe passing directly over the 
heads of children is avoided. The octagonal shape will admit of any 
number of seats and desks (according to the size of the room), ar- 
ranged parallel with the sides, constructed as described in specifica- 
tion, or on such principles as may be preferred. The master's seat 
may be in the centre of the room, and the seats be so constructed 
that the scholars may sit with their backs to the centre, by which 
their attention will not be diverted by facing other scholars on the 
opposite side, and yet so that at times they may all face the master, 
and the whole school be formed into one class. The lobby next to 
the front door is made large (8 by 20), so that it may serve for a re- 
citation-room. This lobby is to finish eight feet high, the inside wall 



550 APPENDIX, 

to show like a screen, not rising to the roof, and the space above be 
open to the schoolroom, and used to put away or station school ap- 
paratus. Tliis screen-Ulve wall may be hung with hats and clothes, 
or the triangular space next the window may be enclosed for this 
purpose. The face of the octagon opposite to the porch has a wood- 
house attached to it, serving as a sheltered way to a double privy 
beyond. This woodhouse is open on two sides, to admit of a cross 
draught of air, preventing the possibility of a nuisance. Other wing- 
rooms may be attached to the remaining sides of the octagon, if 
additional conveniences for closets, library, or recitation-rooms be 
desired. 

The mode here suggested, of a lantern in the centre of the roof 
for lighting all common schoolhouses, is so great a change from 
common usage in our country, that it requires full and clear expla- 
nations for its execution, and plain and satisfactory reasons for its 
general adoption, and of its great excellence in preference to the 
common mode. They are as follows, viz. : 

1. A skylight is well known to be far better and stronger than 
light from the sides of buildings in cloudy weather, and in morning 
and evening. The difference is of the greatest importance. In short 
days (the most used for schools) it is still more so. 

2. The light is far better for all kinds of study than side light, from 
its quiet uniformity and equal distribution. 

3. For smaller houses, the lantern may be square, a simple form 
easily constructed. The sides, whether square or octagonal, should 
incline like the drawing, but not so much as to allow water con- 
densed on its inside to drop off, but run down on the inside to the 
bottom, which should be so formed as to conduct it out by a small 
aperture at each bottom pane of glass. 

4. The glass required to light a schoolroom equally well with side 
lights would be double what would be required here, and the lantern 
would be secure from common accidents, by which a great part of 
the glass is every year broken. 

5. The strong propensity which scholars have to look out by a 
side window would be mostly prevented, as the shutters to side 
apertures would only be opened when the warm weather would re- 
quire it for air, but never in cool weather, and therefore no glass 
would be used. The shutters being made very tight, by corking, in 
winter, would make the schoolroom much warmer than has been 
common ; and, being so well ventilated, and so high in the centre, it 
would be more healthy. 

6. The stove, furnace, or open grate, being in the centre of the 
room, has great advantages, from diffusing the heat to all parts, and 
equally to all the scholars ; it also admits the pipe to go perpendicu- 
larly up, without any inconvenience, and it greatly facilitates the 
ventilation, and the retention or escape of heat, by means of the sli- 
ding cap above. 

Construction.— Foundation of hard stone, laid with mortar ; the 
to; superstructure framed and covered with l;t plank, 
tongued, grooved, and put on vertically, with a hllet, 
' chamfered at the edges, over the joint, as here shown. 
In our view, a rustic cliaracter is given to the design 



APPENDIX. 



551 



by covering the sides with slabs ; the curved side out, tongued, and 
grooved, without a fillet over the joint ; or formed of logs placed ver- 
tically, and lathed and plastered on the inside. The sides diminish 
slightly upward. A rustic porch is also shown, the columns of cedar 
boles, with vines trained upon them. The door is battened, with 
braces upon the outside, curved as shown, with a strip around the 
edge. It is four feet wide, seven high, in two folds, one half to be 
used in inclement weather. The cornice projects two feet six inch- 
es, better to defend the hoarding ; and may show the ends of the 
ratters. Roof covered with tin, slate, or shingles. Dripping eaves 
are intended, without gutters. The roof of an octagonal building of 
ordinary dimensions may with ease and perfect safety be constructed 
without tie beams or a garret floor (which is, in all cases of school- 
houses, waste room, very much increasing the exposure to fire, as 
well as the expense). The wall-plates, in this case, become ties, 
and must be well secured, io as to form one connected hoop, capable 
of counteracting the pressure outward of the angular rafters. The 
sides of the roof will abut at top against a similar timber octagonal 
frame, immediately at the foot of the lantern cupola. This frame 
must be sufficient to resist the pressure inward of the roof (which is 
greater or less, as the roof is more or less inclined in its pitch), in 
the same manner as the tie-plates must resist the pressure joutward. 
This security is given in an easy and cheap manner ; an& may be 
given entirely by the roof boarding, if it is properly nailed to the an- 
gular rafters, and runs horizontally round the roof By this kind of 
roof, great additional height is given to the room by camp-ceiling ; 
that is, by planing the rafters and roof-boards, or by lathing and 
plastering on a thin half-inch board ceiling, immediately on the un- 
derside of the rafters, as may be most economically performed 
This extra height in the centre will admit of low side-walls, from 
seven to ten feet in the clear, according to the size and importance 
of the building, and, at the same time, by the most simple principle 
of philosophy, conduct the heated 
foul air up to tlie central aperture, 
which should be left open quite round 
the pipe of the stove, or open grate 
standing in the centre of the room. 
This aperture and cap, with the ven- 
tilator, is shown by the figure ad- 
joining, which is to a scale of half 
an inch to a foot. The ventilator is 
drawn raised, and the dotted lines 
show it let down upon the roof It 
may be of any required size, say two 
feet wide and twelve inches high, 
sliding up and down between the 
stovepipe and an outward case, form- 
ing a cap to exclude water. This 
cap may be pushed up or let down by 
a rod affixed to the under edge, and |j|||j| 
lying against the smokepipe. ^ 

In the design given, the side-walls are ten feet high, and the Ian- 



^ 



> 



355 APPENDIX. 

tern iifteeji feei above the floor; eigJit ftet in dianjet<ir, *.-«r feet 

hii-y, Thr sashr? mnv ot^t; fri' nddliSfc|i»J Teniilation, if TeqaiT>«i. 
h> ; . - .'. l^-ords atMchcd to xhe e^gcs 

a^' ^ srvcnt-een inches, wnh a shelf 

h;- - -. the back roTr.Tivr ?. ^lat^-.. 

Tht :,.^-:.es; >.;> - sevt^^r. mchess inclv; mA 

the from forms ; ;■ so^J beibre it. 1 - w 

iwelve indies \^ -:"i, and each piipil i? .. ^.l.^.ce 

of iwo ieei side to siuc. ^ 

I. Towx Axr» Alex. J. Davis, Archuecfs, 

Tar the salce of variety, we have^ven a design in the point<«J 
style, revised from a sketch by — ^ an amateur in architecJure, 
At,v ^••■r; i-ror.T plan will suit it; and the principle^: of lu:;ht and 
vt upon in ike description of the octagon design, may 

bt ^, Tlie principal light,* frcaai one large raullioned 

wi.,.iv v. ... ^,,. .\^T ejid. The side openings are for air in summer — 
not glazed, ftut closed witii tighi shuttcre. The same ventilating 
c.aj> is ^ww-n. and height is gained in the nx^f by framing wiik collar 
be^ms set up four ©r five feet above the eaves. Tl» sides, if not of 
br.^k or stone, may be boarded vertically, as befisre 'described. The 
porcJi may be of any convenient size to shelter the door of a recita- 
tion room, through" which may be iJie passage t<i the schoolroora 
One end of tJie recitation room may be paruuoned off for a book 
room, and one opening on each side mav be glazed for light, 

I. T. AXD A. J, D 




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NOV 83 

N. MANCHESTER, 
INDIANA 46952 



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